


Red Herring

by moonchildthings



Series: The Redemption Games [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Cousin, Decoy, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, He is a salty boy, Humor, M/M, Redemption, Salty Tsukishima Kei, Shyness, Sibling, Siblings, Volleyball, grumpy oc, guardian deity, teammates, twin, we love annoying Tsukishima
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:21:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 71,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25453804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonchildthings/pseuds/moonchildthings
Summary: Shōyō Hinata loves volleyball! There is no doubt that all he really thinks about is the sport. His sister, however, isn’t the same way. Sakura is ready to start her first year of high school at Karasuno with her twin brother and doesn’t really want to do anything, unlike Shōyō. Though she can’t help it when she gets dragged into the antics of the volleyball club.[Haikyuu!!][Season One][Various x Multiple OCs][First in The Redemption Games]
Relationships: Azumane Asahi/Original Male Character(s), Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou/Original Female Character(s), Kozume Kenma/Original Female Character(s), Kuroo Tetsurou/Original Female Character(s), Tsukishima Kei/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Redemption Games [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1843621
Comments: 1
Kudos: 48





	1. Endings and Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! So, I've been obsessed with Haikyuu for the longest time, but never got around to writing fanfiction for it. So since I'm stuck inside and have basically nothing to do, I thought why not try to write one! I'm a bit of a scatterbrain and I was meant to work on my Stranger Things fanfiction for this week... but I got distracted by this. So I guess my next thing to work on is Secret of the Forest. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter!

**ON AN UNEVENTFUL DAY IN THE MIYAGI** prefecture, a chilly air blew over the slightly busy streets. As people went about their business, apair of ginger-haired siblings were biking down one of the roads towards their local park. The two nearly identical tweens were heading out with some friends to play soccer as they do on any other day.

They started to bike by a shop that had a television out front with two people already watching it. At the sound of the television, the orange-haired twin who had been pedaling the bike stopped and stared at the screen. It was a volleyball game between two high school teams. One of the teams was wearing uniforms covered in a dark navy blue and a bright orange. Interested at the sight of the game, they paused to watch it. To their amazement, they watched as the shortest players on the team jumped to an impossible height to spike the ball and earn a point for his team. The boy's eyes grew wide as he breathed out in awe at the feat the player pulled off.

The other tween, sitting in the front basket of the bike holding a soccer ball, looked at the screen as well with a raised eyebrow and a borderline bored expression. She hummed and brushed some of her shoulder-length hair from her eyes. The girl watched the match with a minuscule amount of interest. While she liked to play sports like soccer and baseball and was at least a little athletic, volleyball was never really something that intrigued her. Though watching it now almost made her fan of it. She had to admit how impressed she was by the shortest high school player, though not as awed as her brother.

 _"Truly a giant! That makes five point in a row!"_ The commentator exclaimed as the twins continued to watch the screen. One more intently than the other. _"This is the Spring High School National Volleyball Championship. He might be surrounded by players as tall as 6'2", but that does not stop Karasuno's Tiny Giant from making a huge impact!"_

"Oh Karasuno, the next town over." One of the two other men also watching the game commented. "They're not half bad."

Another tween rode up alongside the twins and came to a stop. His light chestnut hair swaying as he looked over to the two with a worried expression. "Hurry up, Shō, Saku-chan, we're going to lose our soccer field!"

However, Shōyō was still mesmerized by the screen. The image of someone so small, so short, having such an amazing ability like the Tiny Giant seemed to blow his mind. He was also on the shorter end of kids his age, like the Tiny Giant, and didn't even think that someone like him would be able to do that. "Karasuno..." He said in a sort of trance. With wide eyes, it seemed as though he had found someone to idolize. Instantly inspired after just watching a short snippet of the game.

He was then bumped on the head by a small pale fist from his sister in front of him. Shōyō cringed and rubbed his head with a pout. "Stop gawking and let's go." The girl drawled out.

"That hurt, imouto!" 

Sakura rolled her large, deep brown eyes, "I just want to get to the park already, now hurry up." While being impressed by the skills that the teens on the television displayed, Sakura didn't care as much as her brother. All that was important to her at the moment was getting to the park so she could let out some energy and lay around taking pictures of her brother fail at playing soccer. Shōyō was quite enthusiastic and athletic, but that didn't mean he the best at the sport. Her most precious pictures were of her brother getting hurt while doing something or other. She was kind of sadistic in a way.

So the group of friends headed to their destination. The image of the Tiny Giant still playing over in Shōyō's mind. It was quite obvious that he was now inspired just by watching a few minutes of that game. 

* * *

**APPROXIMATELY THREE YEARS AND THREE MONTHS LATER**

Excitement buzzed in the air around the short orange-haired boy who had run ahead of his team to get to the gym. His obvious excitement about having their game today was giving him far more enthusiasm than usual. He jumped down the staircase taking two steps at a time, nearly falling down a few times.

"Sho, slow down!" Izumi shouted after his overzealous friend while he and Koji chased after him.

Sakura shook her head and lazily followed after her brother's volleyball team. Her digital camera swayed around her neck as she walked down the steps. In the past three years, the girl didn't look as different as she did back then. The Hinata twins appeared to be just as similar to each other since they were little. The only difference was that Sakura had longer hair, like usual. There was also the fact that Sakura was a few centimeters shorter than her brother and obviously had some more feminine features. If her hair had been shorter, people surely would have mistaken her for her brother.

"He's really excited about this, huh?" Yuuki Kawashima, a first-year, commented as they descended the final steps.

Sakura scoffed, "that's an understatement." The three first-years turned to the older girl. "I had a hard time forcing him to go to bed because he was to hyped up for this."

"Really?" A different first-year, Tatsuya Mori, sweatdropped.

She nodded her head with pursed lips, "he can be such a pain."

The rest of the team, plus Sakura, finally caught up to Shōyō as he marveled at the gym. There were at least a dozen teams warming up at the nets or around the gym. Many were doing stretches, practicing jumps, serving, passing to each other, or practicing their dives. Each of them looked to be well put together and quite talented. Well, they look more skilled than Yukigaoka's team.

Shōyō took in the sight in awe. He was finally here! Finally, he'd get the chance to play volleyball just like his idol, the Tiny Giant. A real match against a real team for the first time ever. He had been dreaming about this for such a long time. "It's huge!" He took in a deep breath, "It smells like Air Salonpas."

"Don't say stuff like that, Sho." Izumi said, "It's dorky."

Koji, his dark-haired friend, agreed with a nod, "Yeah, don't be that guy."

"You're so weird," Sakura deadpanned.

"But guys this my very first real volleyball game." He exclaimed, "I've waited three long years for this."

Koji nodded his head, "That's true I guess it is kind of amazing we made it this far."

"Izumi, Koji," Shōyō turned towards the two, "thanks for coming to help our team out."

A light pink hue appeared on their cheeks, obviously due to embarrassment. "Don't make it weird," Koji grumbled as he looked away from his friend.

Izumi scratched the back of his neck. "Our game was the first one to finish, no need to make it a big deal."

"You too, first-years." Shōyō bounced up to the three other teammates. He was lucky to have gotten at least a few other players to make up a team, it was a miracle that these three had said they'd join. "I'm so thankful you three decided to join the volleyball club with me this season."

"Uh, sure. We're pretty terrible at this whole thing, but okay." Saiya Suziki, the third first-year on the team, said nervously at their captain's enthusiasm.

Koji stared at his orange-haired friend in slight annoyance. "Spare us the tears, Shōyō."

"I'm not crying!"

Izumi chuckled lightly, "You've got tears in your eyes." 

He disregarded that and jumped on his sister next and hugged her tightly, "Thanks for coming too, imouto!"

Sakura looked away from her energetic twin but didn't push him off of her. She was far too used to his behavior and his tight embraces. She shrugged her shoulders, trying to make it seem like she was indifferent though there was a light blush on her cheeks, "I'm just here for moral support."

"Um, I'm sorry to interrupt," Tatsuya said which broke the twins from their hug, "but we should really warm up now." 

Isumi nodded his head, "Come on, captain, you're in charge here."

"He's right, Shōyō. You're the one that dragged us into this tournament thing and you still haven't explained what all the rules are." Koji said in exasperation. It was true, even after forming the team and practicing just a little bit together, Shōyō had yet to go over how exactly to play. It probably would have been a good idea to do that earlier.

Shōyō spun around to face him with a shout, "I know that! Even though we barely made the cut, we are here to win this. Okay, guys."

Everyone stared at him in disbelief, except Sakura. She had already heard all about Shōyō's seemingly impossible goal to win the tournament. She had already gone through her shock last night. "We can't win with a thrown together team of rookies." Izumi blanched at his friend's high expectations.

"Sure we can!"

"Kitagawa first might be tough though." Koji thought out loud about the team they were matched up against. He had heard about them, along with their infamously terrifying reputation. They were one of the best teams around! How were they going to compete with that?

"Maybe. But I'll beat them anyway." Shōyō said with determination in his voice. He was obviously going to try and win this whole thing! The orange-haired boy even thought that he could try and win against some of the top tier teams. Though that seemed to be quite an impossible feat considering they were extremely inexperienced.

Sakura let out a sigh through her nose. She admired her brother's enthusiasm and determination but knew that it was displaced. There was no way that they were going to win this tournament, no matter how much Shōyō tried to hype up his team. Don't get her wrong, it was always a good idea to be confident especially when playing a sport. However, Sakura likes to look at the facts in this scenario. A team made up completely of kids who had not played even one actual game of volleyball didn't stand much of a chance. Call her a pessimist if you want, but that's how she sees it.

Just then footsteps were heard from behind the orange-haired captain as a team of extremely tall players walked up from behind him. Dawned in blue and white uniforms, it was the infamously powerful team from Kitagawa. Shōyō turned to look up at the players and blanched at just how intimidating they appeared.

"Excuse us!" Izumi said as he and Koji pulled Shōyō out of the way, "move dude."

The much smaller team watched them go with dread coursing through them. This was who they had to play against?! They were giants! "They're tall." Koji swallowed as they passed by the shell-shocked team.

The final player on the team who walked passed held an air of superiority, even over his own teammates. He was just as tall as the rest of the team, but for some reason, Shōyō felt like he was the player to really watch out for. Sakura was also surprised by the team and watched them with wide eyes. Though when she caught sight of the last player, she couldn't help but feel a shiver run up her spine.

Once the team passed by them, there was a loud roar of cheering which startled the small team. They ran out to see a large group of Kitagawa First Junior High School students cheering loudly for their team. There had to have been over four dozen kids there to cheer on their peers.

The other teams on the courts watched as the renowned junior high school team walked out to start practicing. "Hey, Kitagawa First is here." Someone commented.

"They're huge," His teammate marveled in slight fear.

On another end of the gym, a boy said, "Those guys scare the hell out of me."

"They're the best team around here."

A boy in an orange uniform said to his teammate, "They've got the king."

His teammate questioned, "The king?"

"What? You don't know? That's what they call Tobio Kageyama, he's a setter." He explained, "And he's supposed to be awesome."

Koji, breaking out of his shocked trance, pointed at the team with nervousness lacing his voice. "We'll be going up against these frickin' guys!"

"It'll be fine!" Shōyō exclaimed, "I don't care how big they are, I'll bust right through 'em!"

"Maybe you're right, Sho. You are a really good jumper." Izumi commented with a little bit of reassurance.

Koji joined in on the encouragement, "You've got this!"

Shōyō's stomach then let out a low rumble as his face started to turn a little green. His teammates stared at him as he hunched over clutching his stomach. "Wonder where the bathrooms are." Their captain then shuffled away, obviously sick with his nerves now. He groaned and whimpered as he walked off, to the shock of his team.

Sakura closed her eyes in despair at the sight. She knew that the pressure was going to end up getting to him at one point. "Well," she stared, gaining all of the boys' attention. "While Shōyō deals with that, you guys start warming up."

The boys nodded their heads at her suggestion, "Right!"

She flashed them a small side smile that disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. If they had blinked, the boys definitely would have missed it, "good luck, you're going to need it."

They all blushed at her encouragement and small smile. Sakura didn't smile, like at all, so the small uptick at the corner of her lips was rare. Of course, it also made her look quite adorable. Though, don't tell her that. She'd probably curse you for saying something like that about her.

The team then set out to do just as she said as Sakura made her way to the stands. She wanted to find a good spot of the game so that she could take some pictures. She trekked through the crowds of players and spectators. Though just as she was about to turn a corner to head up some stairs, she found herself colliding with someone.

She saved herself from falling over and made sure that her camera was safe. Brown eyes scowled at the person she had run into. Sakura had to look up quite a bit to see the eyes of the person who she had run into.

It was a member of the Kitagawa First team. He had black hair that was spiked up quite high. If Sakura had to be honest, his hair reminded her of an onion. He seemed to shiver slightly as he looked down at the girl who glowered at him.

"S-Sorry," he apologized to her as he backed away from her.

Sakura rolled her eyes and ignored him, "whatever."

Yūtarō watched the orange-haired girl walked around him and up the stairs, not sparing him another glance. He watched after her and noticed that she looked extremely similar to that little guy from that unknown school he's going to play against. The middle blocker shook his head and started to walk back into the gym. He had a game to focus on and not that scary girl.

* * *

The game between Kitagawa and Yukigaoka had started. Of course, Shōyō had made it back onto the court just in time to practice a little bit with the others after his run-in with the King of the Court. Kageyama was quite an intimidating guy, he admitted. Though it wasn't going to scare him off. Shōyō was going to give this game his all. He wanted to win against Kitagawa! He was going to do everything in his power to win this match and then the next and the one after that until they were in the finals.

As the first few points were scored, it was quite obvious which team was more experienced. Kitagawa won point after point in a row from simple mistakes that Yukigaoka made. Sakura watched from the stands in a comfortable spot, the only one there to cheer on the small team. It was kind of sad to see that the team of six only had one supporter in the crowd. Though she knew that the boys' spirits were being kept high by her brother. He encouraged them and kept them from being discouraged after a point was lost. Shōyō did what he could to make them feel better, even if they were being destroyed.

She occasionally shouted out some form of encouragement like 'nice try' or 'you'll get it' from the stand. Other than that, she stayed kind of quiet among the crowd. It wasn't like she could really be heard over the noise that Kitagawa's cheer squad was making anyway. Though she was able to get a few good pictures of her brother and friends. Even one of Koji getting hit in the face, that one was definitely a keeper.

Kitagawa had won the first set, not a surprise, but Yukigaoka had done their best against them. Shōyō certainly showed how high he could jump and spike the ball. That was impressive in itself. 

The second set started and unlike the first, Yukigaoka was able to score at least a few points. Not enough to really make it seem like there was going to be a comeback, but it was still an improvement. Sakura was happy to see her brother having such fun for his first official game. It may not be going as he had hoped, but it was better than nothing, right?

She would love to see her brother actually win the game, but that was something that was impossible to even imagine. Despite wanting to believe in her brother and friends' abilities, she knew that they were going to lose. It was a no brainer, sadly. Kitagawa was just a team that was more well put together than Yukigaoka with more experience. There was no way that Yukigaoka could compete.

Though during the second set, Kageyama made it quite clear why exactly he was called the King of the Court. Sakura could see that he was a very arrogant and controlling player. He demanded so much from his teammates that caused quite a bit of tension between them all. In all honesty, Sakura could totally see the team calling for mutiny against him. Though she admitted that he was still very intimidating with the glare that always seemed to be on his face.

The winning point that caused Yukigaoka to lose ended with a mistake on Shōyō's part. Though he showed off his speed at spiking a ball, he had hit the ball out of bounds, ending the game with Kitagawa's win. Though before they lined up for the end of the game, Kagayama had decided to shout at Shōyō from the other side of the net.

"What've you been wasting all your time on for three years?"

From the stands, even Sakura could see how the setter's words had affected her brother. Shōyō went stock still as he processed what Kageyama had said. Her brother was shaking with his fist clenched and his knuckles turning a pasty white. Sakura certainly wasn't happy that the pompous king had said something so insensitive to him. She wasn't the only one.

"What did you say!?" Koji shouted in anger and had to be held back by Izumi.

"Koji! Calm down!"

"You don't know a damn thing about what Shōyō's been doing."

"You can't pick a fight in the middle of the court." Izumi implored him to stop.

"Watch me!"

Eventually, Izumi got Koji to calm down enough to get in line and he turned to Shōyō to get him to do the same. "Come on, Shōyō, let's go."

They then parted to the opposite ends of the courts to thank each other for the game. Sakura just scoffed as she put her camera around her neck safely to take some final pictures of her team. She wasn't as upset about the loss as she was about that stupid King of the Court. Bothering her brother like that was uncalled for. He was just playing the game to his best ability, no need to insinuate that Shōyō had wasted his time doing what he loved. She stomped off from her seat once she put her camera away and went to meet up with her brother and friends.

She passed by a group of four older boys who had been observing some of the game. They were obviously from a high school because they were wearing the uniforms for the Karasuno High School Volleyball Club. Though Sakura just brushes past them, more focused on her journey to find her brother.

"So that's the King of the Court, huh?" One of the boys with silver hair asked. 

The one next to him with brown hair nodded his head, "uhu, he'll be a force to be reckoned with when he gets to high school."

The third boy with a shaved head stood up straight from his previous position leaning on the railing. "The short kid seems promising too."

"Wonder what high schools they'll choose," a blonde-haired boy said with pursed lips. The quartet of high school volleyball players then turned around and left the stands.

* * *

The third-years all gathered outside of the arena after the game. The first-years had already left, of course, after they made sure that Shōyō knew they were grateful they got to play. Shōyō was obviously upset, extremely so. Not even Sakura could seem to get him out of his small bout of depression over the game.

They walked towards the stairs where Shōyō stopped and stared out at nothing. Koji, Izumi, and Sakura shared a look with each other before Koji walked closer to their upset captain.

"Hey, we never stood a chance anyway." Koji said and placed his hands behind his head, "I heard those guys are candidates for the nationals."

Before either of the three could say anything else to Shōyō, the Kitagawa team themself came out of the building. After a small moment of silence between them, Shōyō finally spoke.

"No matter how good or bad each team is, in the end, it all comes down to winning or losing. If you lose, then you have to step off the court." He took a deep breath through his nose after his wise words before taking off down the stairs.

"Hey, wait up!" Izumi shouted after him as Koji did the same.

"What's the rush?"

Sakura watched her brother sprint down the steps to meet up with the one player who she may or may not despise at this point. After what he had said on the court to Shōyō, she wasn't going to let it go so easily.

"Hold it!"

Kageyama turned around to face who had called out to him. "Hm." He was slightly surprised to find that the orange-haired kid he had played against wanted to talk to him. 

Shōyō tried to get his words out, but his throat was starting to clog up slightly as the beginning of tears blurred his vision. "You might be the king who rules the court for now," tears started to stream down his face as he tried to stay strong, "but I'm gonna win, one day I'm gonna stay on the court longer than you."

Kagayama blinked up at him before narrowing his eyes and turning to him fully. "Only those who win get to stay on the court. Only the strongest. So if you wanna keep playing, then you have to become stronger."

A wind past between the two as the echoing sounds of the games still going on inside invaded the air. The challenge between them was now set. Shōyō was going to do everything that he could to improve upon his skills so that way when he met the setter again on the court, he would win. Kageyama then spun on his heels and walked away from the emotional boy.

The other third-years came down the stairs as well. Shōyō turned around and bowed deeply to them. "Thanks for everything."

The two other boys grew flustered once again at Shōyō's words just like they did before the game. There were even tears starting to build up in their eyes. "Dude, don't make it awkward," Koji mumbled, "you don't have to thank us alright?"

"Huh?" Shōyō tilted his head as he looked at his friends, "What are you crying for?"

"I'm not crying, okay?!"

Sakura just chuckled at her brother and walked up to him. She slung her arm over his shoulder and let herself smile just a little bit. "Come on, let's head home."

* * *

So months passed for the Hinata twins. Shōyō and the other first-years had to practice with the girl's volleyball club since they were still down two teammates. They adapted to what they had for the time being. Sakura, of course, continued to encourage her brother to do what he loved and to never give up, even if deep down she saw it as slightly pointless. Why practice when you didn't have a team to play on? Though she didn't question that out loud to her brother. He was happy, and that's all that mattered to her.

The twins eventually made it to the end of the year. Now they were no longer third-years at Yukigaoka. No, they were going to be first-years at their new High School. It didn't take that long to decide which school to apply to. Shōyō had made his mind up about which school he wanted to attend ever since he first saw the Tiny Giant during nationals. Karasuno High School.

Sakura didn't really care about which school she went to. Even though she had the opportunity to go to a different school based on her academic scores, there was no way she was going to leave Shōyō. They were together no matter what, high school was going to be no different. So here they were, their first day of school. It took them about a thirty-minute bike ride over the mountain, but the twins had arrived at their new school. 

Though unlike the previous years, Sakura decided to change how she looked, at least a little. After all, it was high school. Don't most people change their styles then? Sakura had taken it upon herself to cut her hair to the same length as Shōyō's. Now, the twins looked even more similar to each other, not that they cared much. She just thought, a new year, a new her. So what if people mistook her for her brother some times, she didn't mind. 

They chained up their bikes together, made their way into the building, and suffered through the opening ceremony. After nearly falling asleep during the ceremony, Shōyō was bouncing with excitement and nerves. He had been up almost all night thinking about how his first day would go, much to his sister's dismay.

"Are you going to join a club this year, Saku?" Shōyō asked as they walked through the crowd of their new peers.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know."

Shōyō's eyes sparkled like a little kid on Christmas. "You should join the photography club this year!"

"I should?" She asked him. Sakura hadn't been in any clubs the year prior, she didn't really see a need for them when she could just spend her time taking pictures or studying. Besides her junior high school didn't even have a photography club. The only way to have taken pictures for school was to join the yearbook club, but she didn't want to deal with the plethora of popular kids who were in it. Karasuno though did have a photography club that wasn't just meant for the yearbook. She tilted her head and considered the idea. "I guess I could..."

"If you do you can probably take pictures of the volleyball team!"

Sakura nodded her head slowly at the justification, "I'll think about it."

"Cool!" He gave her a thumbs-up as he seemingly vibrated in place. "I'm going to go to the volleyball club, so meet up with me at the gym later, kay?"

Sakura smirked, "alright, see you."

The twins then parted ways, Shōyō heading to the gym to meet up with the volleyball club and Sakura searching for the photography club. Though one of them was going to get one of the biggest shocks of their lives once they made it to their destination.


	2. Karasuno High School's Volleyball Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay chapter two! Well, we all know what happens in this episode! Now it's time to add an orange-haired tsundere and a blonde drama queen into the mix! 
> 
> Small announcement: I finally got my Tumblr all sorted out! I'm thinking of posting all of the graphics that go with my stories, like the book covers, character boards, and anything else. I was also thinking of posting images and headcanons on there, whether their related to my stories or not. It'll also probably where I'll post my smaller story ideas instead of making a book on other sights, you know. Anyway check it out if you want. Hope you'll like it! Now, on with the next chapter!

**SAKURA TAPPED HER FOOT AGAINST THE FLOOR** impatiently. Though really it was also in nervousness. She had been searching for the photography club for a few minutes before finally finding it. The president of the club was currently talking with a few other people about what exactly the club would do. Apparently they do take pictures for the yearbook but then those pictures get sent to the actual yearbook club and let them deal with them. They also take pictures for the newspaper as well, but they do more than that apparently. The club holds exhibitions every month of the pictures that the club members have taken. They focus on learning how to take the perfect picture and how to edit. They also had some of the best software and equipment to use for photography. Overall, it sounded pretty promising. At least it was better than doing it alone which Sakura had been doing since she could hold a camera. Plus getting to actually show off her pictures instead of just keeping them for herself sounded kind of nice. 

"Are you thinking of joining?" The president walked over to Sakura. 

The president looked like a nice girl. Obviously a third-year who was quite pretty with long light brown hair cascaded over her shoulders with bangs that swayed in front of her bright green eyes. She was at least a few inches taller than Sakura, which wasn't surprising considering most people were taller than her. She had a kind smile plastered on her round pale face as she approached the first-year.

"...I guess," Sakura muttered.

The girl continued to smile sweetly, "that's great! I'm Shimada Emi, president of the club."

The younger girl nodded her head in understanding, "Hinata Sakura."

"So how about it? We're always ready for new club members!"

Shimada was quite an enthusiastic person. She wasn't on the same level as Shōyō but still above average, Sakura supposed. It wasn't anything she couldn't handle though.

"Hm," she hummed and raised an eyebrow, "do we get to take pictures of other clubs, like the boy's volleyball club?"

"Oh, want to take pictures of those boys, do you? Got a crush on one of them?" Sakura bristled at the accusation as Shimada continued on with hearts in her eyes, "I can't blame you, just about all of them are adorable!"

The first-year shook her head frantically, "No! My brother is joining the team, I was just thinking about getting to take pictures of him, that's all."

"Alright," Shimada giggled, "well, we do have to take pictures of the other clubs, one or two people are assigned to each one. If you want to join, you can be assigned to take pictures of the boy's team. You'd just have to go to each game and such with them."

That fact alone was probably a deal-breaker for Sakura. She'd get to hang around Shōyō even when he was at his club. Plus being in her own club would give her a chance to make friends of her own instead of just befriending her brother's friends. High school was a time to reinvent oneself, after all.

Sakura pursed her lips and shrugged her shoulders lightly, "Yeah, it sounds cool." 

It seemed impossible, but Shimada's smile widened, "Awesome!" She scurried around to grab an application for Sakura. "Here you go, fill this out!"

Sakura nodded her head and started to fill out the application which only took a minute or so. Once she finished she handed it to Shimada who was ecstatic to have another member of the club. Photography wasn't exactly the most popular club at Karasuno. There was interest in it and there was a decent amount of members, but the number of new applicants had been decreasing yearly. So having any new members was one of the best things that could happen.

Now officially a member of the photography club, Sakura spoke with a few of the other members, new and old. She acquainted herself with them and was glad to say that they were all tolerable people. So now with her position as a new member and the boy's volleyball club photographer, Sakura started to make her way towards the gym. There was just one problem, she wasn't exactly sure where to go.

She was in a new school after all and didn't know the layout yet. Sakura did her best but ultimately was just wondering around aimlessly after about fifteen minutes. At this point, the only way that she would find the gym and her brother would be to ask someone.

Just then a beautiful girl with shoulder-length, straight black hair, the clearest skin that Sakura had ever seen, and a slim figure started to walk down the hall. She must have been an upperclassman from the way that she walked around with confidence. Confidence that none of the first-years had and was somewhat difficult to replicate. Someone who was familiar with the school, like this upperclassman, might know where the volleyball club meets. Seeing no other choice, Sakura decided to ask for directions.

"Uh, excuse me?" She approached the girl.

The girl turned to her questioningly and smiled kindly to the younger girl. "Yes?"

Goodness, even her voice was smooth and heavenly. "I'm looking for the boy's volleyball club, but I don't know what gym they're in. Can you tell me how to find them?"

"Of course," the girl smiled, "I was just heading there myself. You can come with me."

Sakura nodded her head, "Thanks, I'm Hinata Sakura."

"Shimizu Kiyoko."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the gym where the boy's volleyball club were supposed to meet up, Shōyō was arguing with the King of the Court himself. Well, he didn't like being called that apparently. Kagayama made that quite clear. Shōyō was easily able to get on the former king's nerves. Though it seemed that both of them were quite frustrated with each other. 

Their tense atmosphere was broken when they heard a few voices approaching the gym. "Who knew that the setter from Kitagawa First would end up at our school?" The first voice said.

"He better not be too cocky," A second voice exclaimed, "or I'll have to pound him."

A third voice sighed, "Give it a rest, Tanaka, you don't have to threaten everybody."

"What are you going to do about it? Huh? Yeah, that's what I thought."

A fourth voice scoffed loudly, "He'd probably just beat your ass if you did end up in a fight. You are quite weak after all."

"Why you-!"

"Uh, hello," Kageyama said as a quartet of upperclassmen entered the gym. The four of them were wearing the Karasuno Volleyball uniforms which consisted of a black jacket with black pants. Each of them was quite tall with slight smiles on their faces. Well, two out of the four had kind smiles on their faces.

The first was a silver-haired boy with slightly paler skin than the others. He didn't appear to be threatening or intimidating at all. His eyes were a light brown color that seemed to greet the first-years warmly. 

The second one next to him was a guy with brown hair and also brown eyes. While he had a kind smile on his face, there also appeared to be a spark of leadership in his eyes. It was quite obvious that he was most likely the captain of the team. 

The third guy had a shaved head and his eyes were narrowed at the two newbies. He had this sort of crazed look in his eyes that just screamed how crazy he was. Though his appearance alone would make someone think that he may be a delinquent, yet that was quite far from the truth.

The fourth looked a bit different than the others in the scense that he appeared to be a foreigner. He had blond hair with the right side of his head shaved. It was quite obvious that he put a lot of effort into how his hair looked as it shined slightly due to the gel in it. He had crystal blue eyes that held a certain sort of mirth in them as he pinpointed the newest members. His skin was softly tanned like the sun had given him a brief hug. His thin lips were also pulled up in a large smirk, unlike the other two who actually smiled or the one who was trying to intimidate them.

"Well, well, well, now what do we have here-" Tanaka Ryūnosuke, the second-year with a shaved head, said as he made a face that he thought would intimidate the younger teens. Though all it really did was make him look ridiculous.

Sawamura Daichi, the brown-haired captain, grabbed the back of his jacket and pulled him away, "You Kageyama?"

"Yeah," the boy answered as he was approached by the four.

"It's nice to meet you."

"Pretty tall aren't ya." Sugawara Kōshi, the silver-haired teen, commented in awe.

"First impressions are everything, Suga," Tanaka explained to the vice-captain. "You're a third-year so you have to establish dominance," He then pulled a face that he believed to be intimidating at the setter. Yet again he only looked ridiculous.

Daichi shook his head lightly, "Stop it, Tanaka. You look stupid."

The blond third-year, Endo Joji, laughed loudly, "he always looks stupid!"

As they were introducing themselves to each other, Shōyō walked around the older teens to stare at the back of their jackets. He stared in awe at them as he grasped the reality of the situation. He really was going to be joining the Karasuno volleyball team. The same team that the Tiny Giant had been on!

"Hey, guys-!"

"So how tall are you?" They disregarded him and didn't even see that he was there. Oh, the curse of being short.

"Six feet," Kageyama answered plainly. Meanwhile, Shōyō was still trying to gain their attention as the boys exclaimed their amazement at the King's height. Seriously, was he really that invisible?

Fed up, Shōyō exclaimed, "Hey!"

They all went silent as they looked down to see the orange-haired teen. "Huh?" Finally seeing the other first-year was there, Tanaka pointed at him, "Hey, it's you! You're the shorty!"

The other four's eyes widened in recognition. After all, they couldn't forget about the small junior high schooler who had jumped to heights that seemed impossible for someone like him. Daichi glanced down at the other paper in his hand. "Wait a minute, the other applicant goes by the name of Shōyō Hinata. I guess that's you. It's just kind of surprising, that's all. But, well, hey you guys both chose Karasuno."

Shōyō tilted his head, "Guess so."

"Didn't mean to freak you out." Suga smiled kindly, "It's just you made a big impression last year."

Tanaka nodded his head along with him, "Yeah, you were tiny and all over the place but you really had some spunk."

"Even I thought you were impressive," Endo said mindlessly with a hand on his chin in thought.

"Wow, thanks a lot!" Shōyō beamed.

"And not to mention that jump of yours," Suga said.

Tanaka walked up to the short kid and sized him up, noticing that there wasn't much of a difference in his height from last year. "It's too bad you haven't had a growth spurt yet though."

Shōyō groaned, "I know! I may be small, but I've got talent. I'll be Karasuno's ace before you know it!" Kagayama's eyes widened before he scowled at the spit-fire. His ambitions were far too out of his reach, the setter thought. Unless Shōyō had improved significantly over the year since their first game as opponents, there was no way Hinata was going to become the ace.

Tanaka laughed, "Hot damn, already got your eyeballs on the ace position do you? Somebody's got cojones."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with shooting for the stars, is there? Right?" Suga asked with a closed-eye smile.

At the encouraging, hopeful words, Shōyō grinned widely, "Yeah, I'll do my best."

"Okay, then," Kageyama started from behind the ball of sunshine with a harsh tone, "now that you've sworn to become the ace, you better be prepared to back it up. If you're not careful, you'll waste another three years."

Shōyō's eyes narrowed as he turned around, "Excuse me."

Daichi let out a sigh, "Was that really necessary, Kageyama?"

"I did everything I could, I did." For a moment, Shōyō thought back to that first game he got to play against Kitigawa. The team that he had to back him up and what they had gone through. "Look, I've done a lot. Stop putting me down."

The two of them had a bit of a stare off at each other. Shōyō glared up at the setter who just returned the stare with annoyance flashing in his eyes. The rivalry that had been born between the two the year prior was still kicking. This was certainly going to be a problem if the two of them were meant to be on a team together.

Endo smirked at the petty argument between the two. Oh, he loved drama like this, he lived for it. Watching the two underclassmen have this little fight between each other was quite entertaining. Barely in the club and the two are already giving him a show. The blond was no stranger to drama and such, as he was one of the biggest drama queens at Karasuno. He thrived off of this sort of stuff. Oh, he could already tell that this year was going to be extremely fun!

"Relax, guys." Daichi said scratching the back of his head, trying to be the voice of reason, "You know you're not enemies anymore, right? Volleyball is supposed to bring people together-"

"I want you to play me, right now," Shōyō exclaimed as they ignored their captain.

"Whoa watch it punk," Tanaka glowered, "don't you know Daichi is talking to you!"

The two still ignored the team as Kageyama continued their conversation, "What are we going to play?"

"Volleyball!" Shōyō shouted, "What the heck else is there?"

"How do you plan to play volleyball one-on-one?"

"...Like passes and stuff."

"How does anybody win at that?"

"The kid's got a point!" Tanaka shouted.

Daichi did his best to keep his composer, however, his smile was growing tight as they bickered. His patience was wearing thin with these first-years, and he already knew that these two were going to a handful to deal with. He certainly had his work cut out for him as captain this year.

"What's all the noise in here." A new voice asked from the doorway. Entering the gym was the vice-principal himself in all of his fake hair glory. 

"Oh, turds! VP!" Tanaka exclaimed harshly.

"Be quiet!" Suga reprimanded him.

"Why don't you be quiet!"

"Shut it," Endo hissed, hitting Tanaka on the back of the head.

The older man ventured further into the room garnering all of the teens' undivided attention. Well, besides Shōyō and Kageyama who were still glaring at each other. "Are you boys fighting in here?" 

"No, we're just working as hard as always, vice-principal." Daichi smiled, trying to hide the fact that there was some sort of discord between the newbies. "Right?"

Tanaka turned to the first-years to explain to them in a not so quiet whisper. "We gotta watch ourselves around the vice-principal, that guys always waiting for us to slip up."

However, still lost in their own world and rivalry, Shōyō and Kageyama continued to fight, "Serve it to me. I can handle whatever you send."

"Dude!" Tanaka shouted.

"Listen, jerk, I only received once serve from you last year." He grimaced at the memory. "Granted it was with my face but since then, I've practiced with everyone I could. I am not the same person I was."

"Hm, not the same person, huh?" Kageyama asked before walked over to the abandoned volleyball and picked it up. He pointed at Shōyō dramatically, "Well, I've improved a bit in the last year too."

"Alright, alright, that's enough smack talk, you guys." Daichi tried to defuse the situation before they were punished by the VP for something or other. How was he going to be able to control these boys if all they were going to do was fight like this?

"They're both first-years aren't they?" The VP asked in disapproval.

Kageyama readied himself on the other side of the court as he bounced the ball. Shōyō also prepared himself in a receiving position. He wouldn't let Kageyama get to him now. Shōyō would prove that he had risen to the challenge to better himself, to improve his volleyball skills.

"Get ready," Kageyama said before throwing the ball up into the air. A jump serve!? The king could do jump serves now? He certainly had improved since their last meeting. With an immense amount of force behind the serve, Shōyō had to dive out of the way before the volleyball could hit him in the face which caused him to fall to the floor.

"Whoa!" Tanaka marveled as he and the others stared in awe. "Not even I can catch that."

"Pathetic." Kageyama scoffed, "How is that any different than last year?"

The initial awe of the serve wore off as Shōyō's expression hardened. He jumped up to his feet with determination in his eyes, "One more try."

"Okay, now cut it out." Daichi tried again to stop them only for it to fall on deaf ears.

"I see the new recruits have no respect for their captain." The VP drawled out unimpressed.

Endo snickered, "Man this is great!" His statement earned a smack on the back of the head from Suga and a disapproving look from Daichi. He just shrugged his shoulders innocently.

Kageyama threw the ball up again for another jump serve. Instead of falling out of the way, Shōyō used his speed to get to the ball. He had some good reflexes, though he lost control of the ball when it hit his forearms. It went straight up into his face and bounced off towards the spectators.

Unaware, the VP turned to Daichi, "If this keeps-"

He didn't get to finish his statement as the volleyball slammed into his cheek. This caused his toupee to fly off of his bald head and land right on Daichi's head. Everyone stared in shock for a moment before Tanaka and Endo tried to stop themselves from dissolving into laughter.

"Oh, man, that was a toupee?" Kageyama asked as he walked over.

Shōyō snorted, "You're just now figured that out. I noticed it at the entrance ceremony."

"Dude, shut up." Tanaka did his best to keep his snickering to himself but was failing. "It's not even that funny."

"You shut up, moron!" Suga yelled at the second-year who had to hang onto Endo to stay standing.

"Captain," the VP said emotionlessly, "a word please."

* * *

"Luckily we're not in trouble, he doesn't even want an apology," Daichi said to the team as they all lined up in front of him. They all let out a sigh of relief at that. They certainly dodged a bullet after that. "But we have been sworn to secrecy." He then addressed Hinata and Kageyama, "And as for you two-"

"If you had handled the serve it wouldn't have happened in the first place," Kageyama gritted through his teeth to the shorter teen, completely ignoring Daichi. "You're the same clutz you were last year. I can't believe I thought you'd be a challenge."

"You don't know when to quit do you?" Hinata asked with a glare.

Growing fed up with their childish behavior, Daichi shouted, "Can it!" Which instantly silenced the two gaining all of their attention. "There's something I want to tell you. I don't know your reasons for coming to this high school, but I assume you came to win."

"Yeah!" Hinata answered instantly.

As did Kageyama, "Yes, obviously."

"Up until a few years ago, Karasuno's volleyball team could compete with the best of them. They even made it to nationals once. But these days we're eighth in the prefecture. Not terrible, but not good either. And people talk, they call us the Wingless Crows." Daichi started to reminisce, "I remember when Karasuno played in the spring high national tournament. I was a student at a nearby school who happened to be in the neighborhood. Watching them fight those tough opponents in that huge gym in Tokyo, it gave me chills." Hinata remembered the same thing happening to him on that fateful day while headed to the park. "Let's go back one more time!"

An image of playing on the court, the same court that the Tiny Giant had played on, passed through Shōyō's mind. How amazing would it be to play on such a stage! That was his ultimate dream, to be just like his inspiration and it seemed like his new captain had the same idea.

"The nationals, huh?" Kageyama asked with a slight scoff. "Plenty of high schools talk about making it there one day, doesn't mean they'll go."

"What?! You little-"

"I know what you mean." Daichi cut Tanaka off, "but I'm dead serious. If we wanna get there, we need to be a cohesive unit. That means no more run-ins with the VP for one thing. It's not like I'm telling you to be best friends or anything like that. I know back in middle school you two might have been adversaries on opposite sides of the net, but let me be clear, you're on one side now and you need to make peace with that. Is that clear?" He flashed them a terrifying glance that caused shivers to travel up the boys' spines. Daichi placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "I don't care how good you are or how determined you are to play hard. Anyone who lets a petty rivalry get in the way of the team's success gets the boot!" He slammed their applications into their faces now that he had pushed them both out of the gym door. "You two are banned from participating in club activities until you learn to think of yourselves as teammates." The metal doors of the gym then slide shut in their poor faces, locking them out of the club. It took a moment for them to process what had just happened, but when they realized they were not allowed in the club the two first-years screamed.

* * *

Sakura followed after Kiyoko lazily as they walked through the school. After sharing a few words with Kiyoko, Sarkua found out that she was the team's manager and dealt with most of the behind the scense stuff for them. She even told her about what the team was like and who was on it. Useful information to use since she'll probably be spending a lot of time at their practices.

She explained to the third-year that she was the photographer for the club, and Kiyoko was quite happy to hear that. Despite loving all the boys on the team, she really would like to have another girl around. Some times, they could just be too much, especially Tanaka and Nishinoya. Kiyoko could only hope that having Sakura around for a few practices or games would give her a chance to have a girl friend to hang out with than just the boys.

"Keep talking short stack!" A shout greeted them as they approached the entrance to the gym. To Sakura's dismay, the one who had yelled, was the King of the Court himself, Kageyama Tobio. It was no surprise that he had been yelling at her brother. Oh, how terrible it was to find out that they were going to the same school as that arrogant prick. 

"Excuse us," Kiyoko said to the two boys who had suddenly been mesmerized by her beauty. "We need to get through."

The teens moved out of the way to let Kiyoko walk between the two of them to enter the gym. Sakura walked over as well, though she stopped to look between her brother and the king with narrowed eyes. "Why am I not surprised you two are out here?"

Kageyama and Shōyō were still slightly distracted by the upperclassmen to really pay any attention to Sakura, so she just shrugged her shoulders and walked behind her senpai.

"Hey, Kiyoko!" Tanaka jumped over to them once the door was open. "Thanks for your hard work. Oh, let me get that."

Kiyoko shook her head lightly, "No thanks. I can carry it myself."

"Okay then, you look super gorgeous today." Kiyoko just walked away from him without replying. The ignored teen hugged himself as he visibly shivered, to Sakura's confusion, "Oh, man, She's so pretty when she ignores me."

Sakura ventured further into the gym as Suga closed the doors, once again not letting the two first-years into the practice. The orange-haired teen kept her distance for a moment and silently observed them. They certainly looked like a good group of volleyball players, she thought. Tall, lean, and athletic, the perfect combination for a volleyball player. Though she wasn't sure what the team was like now or how they played. After all, they were once a powerhouse school. One would suspect they were at least somewhat talented. Though it's a shame that they fell from that. The Wingless Crows indeed. She would just have to see how they practiced.

Just as the team was going to start a few practices runs, Sakura decided to speak up, "Hello."

The sudden voice drew the team's attention and startled them quite a bit. Standing just to the side of the door was an identical copy of the little ball of sunshine that was just thrown out of the gym by the captain. The team stared wide eyes at the teen who casually standing looking back at them with a raised eyebrow.

"Hinata, how did you get there?" Suga gaped at the sight of the teen.

Endo stared for a long moment before rubbing his eyes as if he had something in them, "am I seeing double?" While the girl in front of them certainly looked like Hinata, he could instantly tell that she was not a boy. He wasn’t wrong about this. Endo could definitely tell the difference between a guy or girl, quote him on that.

Tanaka bounced over to her in shock and started to poke her in the cheek, "you're like magic!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow and pushed the second-year's hand away from her face with a scowl. The terrifying look that crossed her face caused a shiver of fear to strike the older boy. To say that Tanaka was frightened by the small girl was an understatement. "Don't touch me, baldy," Tanaka shouted out in offense at the name but was disregarded by the others. Sakura turned to the captain and vice-captain with a bored expression. "I'm Hinata Sakura, that idiot you probably tossed out is my twin brother."

Seeing the mistake that they made they smiled apologetically to her. Daichi scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Sorry about that, Hinata-chan."

She shrugged her shoulders indifferently, "no worries."

"It's nice to met you!" Suga smiled towards her kindly.

"Same, I guess." She waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the door where they could hear the two idiots bicker with each other. "I don't know what Shōyō may have done, but I apologize for him, he can be an idiot." Her scowl seemed to deepen even further, "it doesn't help that the _King_ is here as well." The four upperclassmen shared glances with each other. The venom that dripped from her voice as she said the setter's nickname, it was obvious that she is not a fan of Kageyama's. 

"Well, let's hope that those two can get over their differences and become teammates," Daichi said encouragingly to his underclassmen.

"Yeah, let's hope," Sakura said, though there was an obvious amount of doubt coating her words. "Anyway, I'm in the photography club, and apparently I'm assigned to take pictures of you guys and stuff. Just so you know. " She shrugged her shoulders.

Endo walked over to her and leaned down so that he could try to be eye-level with his underclassman. "A photographer now, eh? We've got our own paparazzi now," he ran a hand through his hair with a large smirk. "I'm sure you'll find I'm a perfect subject for photos, Hinata-chan. I don't have a bad side." He then stuck a few poses which earned himself a few laughs.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "yeah, yeah, sure."

"Well, I'm Sawamura Daichi--"

"The captain, yes I know," She deadpanned and waved her hand in the general direction of the lady-manager. "Kiyoko-senpai already told me about you guys on the way here."

"Kiyoko talked about me!" Tanaka exclaimed as hearts formed in his eyes.

Sakura eyes the overdramatic teen for a moment before nodding her head. She certainly understood what her senpai meant when she described Tanaka as "over the top".

"We're about to start practice," Suga said approaching the younger girl, "you can stay and watch if you want."

His kind smile caused Sakura to purse her lips and look away. Consideration for the option buzzed around in her head for a moment before she nodded her head. "Sure, I guess I'll take some pictures while I'm here."

What better way to pass the time. After all, her brother certainly wasn't going to leave the school if he was locked out of the practice. She could already see him trying to peek through the windows. So instead of riding back home by herself, she might as well as see how the volleyball team works together. It would definitely give her a better idea of what would be the best method to take pictures of them.

So Sakura pulled out her camera and stationed herself on the sidelines. Occasionally she would help Kiyoko if she saw that she needed help with something or other. Other than that, she stayed out of the way and snapped a few pictures and was content just watching them. Sakura could tell that the team worked well together, they were just missing a few pieces. A libero would be a good addition to the team, maybe another wing spiker or ace, but other than that they were strong, she observed.

Throughout the practice, Endo seemed to be the one who was acting up the most for the camera. It was like he wanted to make his poses more appealing than functional for practice. He was scolded by Daichi for it a few times after he had missed a few sets. She made sure to stay out of their way as she took pictures and analyzed their playing style.

While Sakura wasn't a volleyball player, she understood the game enough. Having Shōyō as her brother forced her to learn nearly everything about the sport. She knew every position, what they did, different attacks, and almost every term related to the sport. In her own conclusion based on her knowledge, she thought that the boys in front of her had potential. The team was rough around the edges for sure, but what team wasn't? Either way, she could see her brother possibly reaching his dreams with this team. At least, she hoped so.

* * *

Night had fallen and darkness covered the nearly abandoned high school. The volleyball club was most likely one of the only clubs still at the school besides maybe one or two others. Everyone was thoroughly exhausted after the practice that Daichi had put them through. He wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to go to nationals this year. The captain wanted to work his team into shape to actually get there this year.

"Good work everybody!"

The boys started to clean up the gym, putting away the net, collecting the scattered balls, etc. Sakura gathered her things and put them in her white messenger bag and slung it over her shoulders. The practice gave her the perfect opportunity to take action shots of the players and figure out who was the most photogenic. She had to admit, she at least enjoyed watching them a little bit. 

It was also a plus that the boys were kind and tolerable. Well, the majority of them were. The team themselves were a very positive bunch. There are worse people that she's had to be stuck around. So having to deal with them wasn't a problem.

Sakura could already tell that Tanaka was probably the most troublesome of the group and a complete goofball. If he wasn't celebrating his skills by taking off his shirt and whipping it around, then he was ogling Kiyoko from afar or declaring his love for her very loudly. Sakura had no idea how Kiyoko dealt with this! She was just glad that Tanaka wasn't doing the same thing to her. There had already been enough attention drawn to her when she had to be introduced to the team, there was no need for Tanka to start gushing over her. Though Sakura was able to catch him saying something along the lines of "Hinata-chan is small and adorable". She just glared at him for that which effectively shut him up for the rest of the practice, to her knowledge.

Another pain, Endo liked to be the center of attention, which was proven to how many times he tried to pose for a picture("Hinata-chan! Make sure to get one of my good side!" "Shut up, Endo and focus!"). Sakura could tell that she wasn't going to like having to deal with him and his attention-seeking personality. Though that wasn't the part that really irked her. His crystal blue eyes always had this spark in them that unsettled Sakura, for some reason. Though she was easily able to hide that fact from everyone. His gaze, whenever he did look at her, was so... accusatory. Like he expected her to say something about him. What did he think she would say? Did he think she would say something about his athletic skills? His arrogance? Either way, she tried not to dwell on it for long.

Daichi could be a pretty intense captain and did his best to keep the team on task and motivated. He did his best to control the more unruly underclassmen, and honestly, was like the dad of the team. Sakura admired his level over leadership as it seemed like the team knew that they had to listen to him as their captain. He had the confidence level that a captain should have. In himself and his team.

Suga encouraged the team to improve their skills if they needed to, a total mom in her opinion. He was the setter of the team which made scense since a setter was the control tower of a team. He basically had the responsibility of pacing the team and keeping them alert. Something that she thought Suga could do quite easily after seeing him control the ball so flawlessly while practicing. 

Narita Kazuhito is a pretty mellow guy, someone who certainly wouldn't get on Sakura's nerves(unlike Tanaka or Endo). They had only shared a few words of greeting before he had to get back to practice, but she knew that they would get along. The second-year has a shaved head much like Tanaka, however, he didn't look like a delinquent or as intimidating. He was a second-year, just like Tanaka as well, though they were drastically different from each other, Sakura observed. 

Another second-year on the team was a boy who had a light brown shade of hair that reminded Sakura of Izumi. Sakura got to talk with this boy, Kinoshita Hisashi, a bit during practice drills, and he seemed to be a slightly nervous guy. He wasn't anxious in general, but just in his playing style, Sakura supposed. He was kind to her at least, that's all she cared about at the moment. 

Ennoshita was a second-year who seemed to be able to handle Tanaka's craziness the best. He was most likely the buffer between Tanaka's insanity and reality. Ennoshita kept him grounded, for the most part. The brown-eyed, dark-haired upperclassmen always had a kind smile on his face(except when he had to deal with Tanaka) and an air of maturity that some second-years don't have. If she didn't know, Sakura would have thought that he was a third-year. 

The manager of the team was a complete sweetheart. Kiyoko has the patient of a saint to be dealing with these boys. She was also obviously a hard worker with all the chores and such that she did for the team. Though Sakura had to wonder how much work she really did as the manager, guess she'll get to see if she hangs around to take pictures of them.

Her thoughts on the team carried a bit from person to person, but overall they were nice. Tanaka and Endo could be a bit much at times, but she'd live. Though now that practice was over, everyone was ready for some rest after their first practice back. "You know what, I bet those two goofballs are thinking right now," Tanaka started as he pulled on his jacket, "that if they can beat us then they'll make the team, right?"

Suga shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, sure. But all they really have to do is cool off and prove to everybody that they've learned their lesson."

"Did you see those two?" Endo scoffed as he pulled on his jacket, "I highly doubt they'd do that."

"Captain!" The troublesome duo outside shouted which prompted the team to jump in shock before sliding open the doors. "We challenge you to a match!"

"I stand corrected..." Endo drawled out with pursed lips and arms crossed. Next to him, Tanaka laughed loudly as the boys continued to go on their challenge for the team.

Hinata stood strong in front of the upperclassmen, "If we win, you have to let us join."

"Guys, I'm psychic!" Tanaka exclaimed before wincing as he was hit on the back of the head by Endo.

"Now, we want to prove that we finally understand how to play together as teammates." Once again, the two spoke together as if they had been practicing saying it together this entire time.

"How many times did you rehearse that?" Suga asked in amusement.

Sakura watched the interaction from behind the upperclassmen. She was more than happy with not interfering in whatever plan her brother and Kageyama wanted to do. Despite both of them disliking each other, she knew that neither of them would want to admit defeat or be kicked out of the club. After all, both of them were completely volleyball crazy. 

Tanaka continued with his laughter that had subsided slightly after Endo's cuff to the back of the head. "This is gold, I can get used to having these clowns on the team!"

"If you lose?" The captain asked with his arms crossed over his chest.

The first-years gasped slightly before Kageyama spoke up. "Then you get to choose the penalty."

"Huh?" Daichi tilted his head with a raised eyebrow. It was an interesting proposition from them. In honesty, he expected them to do something like this to prove themselves to the team. However, he didn't expect them to challenge them like this. He then started to explain, "Club application form, here's an idea we have two other first-years joining the club soon, you'll play against them in a three-on-three match. We do this game every year with our new club so we can get an idea of how they play."

Shōyō's eyebrows furrowed as he pointed to himself and Kageyama, "But if it's going to be three-on-three, then whose going to be our third player?"

"Tanaka, you're with them. Make sure they behave alright?"

"Oh, man, why me?" Tanaka complained as Endo patted him on the back in sympathy. Though he was slightly glad that he wasn't chosen to help them. As much as Endo loved seeing people bicker with each other, Hinata-kun and Kageyama were too much.

"Well, you seem to like them." Daichi shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't drag me into their mess!" 

The captain sighed, "That's too bad. I was thinking you'd be the only one tough enough to keep these delinquents in line."

Hearing that, Tanaka perked up. Stroking his ego obviously helped persuade him into doing just about anything, which is something that Sakura filed away in her mind. "Aw, well, why the heck not. When you put it like that! Just stick with me, little man!"

"Anyway," Daichi brought back their attention, "here's the penalty if you lose; for the remainder of my time here at Karasuno, Kageyama cannot be the setter."

At his declaration, Kageyama's eyes widened. Not be the setter? How could Kageyama Tobio _not_ be the setter on the team?!

Shōyō looked up in thought, "Is that the only penalty we have sir?"

"If the setter's aggressive, self-centered and driven by his own ego, the team can't win," Daichi said bluntly which caused Kageyama to glare at him, "What? I'm not saying I'll reject your application to join, I'm sure you'll be well suited to a different position."

"NO WAY, I'M A SETTER!" Kageyama screamed angrily.

"Then win the game." The captain deadpanned, "You're the one who thought you could win without help, right?"

Shōyō bristled noticing that he hadn't even been addressed by the captain. It was like all that mattered was the great and powerful King of the court, not him. "Hey, uh, but what about me?"

Shōyō was ignored once again as Daichi continued on. "We play on Saturday."

"Come on! I'm over here too, you know?!" The orange-haired boy jumped up and down to try and be noticed. Sakura raised an eyebrow at her twin's desperate attempts to be noticed as she glided around Suga to approach her brother and stand next to him.

Tanaka waved his hand with confidence, "Don't worry, your cool upperclassmen will show you the ropes-"

Suga grabbed the back of Tanaka's jacket before he could finish and dragged him back inside before sliding the door shut with a farewell, "See ya."

"Bye-bye Hinata-chan~!" Sakura scowled at the blond second-year as the doors slid shut.

The doors shut in the first-years faces once again. Shōyō sighed and plopped down on the stairs in seeming exhaustion. Though after having to go through all of that, Sakura gave him the benefit of the doubt. She leaned against the side of the building with an uninterested aura surrounding her. The most frustrated out of the trio was obviously Kageyama, who stomped on the ground, "Damnnit."

"What's wrong?" Shōyō asked the former king, "Are you mad because you're the only one who gets penalized? Even if you're not the setter, I bet you'd figure out a different position just like that. Plus, spikers are cooler than setters anyway. They get to go up and slam the ball!" 

Shōyō was just doing his best to try and make the setter feel better. However, it didn't seem like that it was working so much. That was pretty obvious from how Kageyama's shoulders were shaking in anger. Sakura would have said something since her brother was oblivious to it, but she elected not to. Since seeing the King frustrated entertained her.

"SHUT UP!" Kageyama screamed as his anger finally erupted. He spun around and grabbed the front of the shorter boy's shirt. There was a moment where Sakura contemplated getting in between the two of them. After all, she would do anything to make sure that nothing and no one hurt her family. However, she had a feeling that Kageyama wasn't going to really hurt her brother. He was all bark and barely any bite when it came to something like this. So he let it slide, for the moment. Kageyama continued on, "The setter is the team's control tower plus, it's the position that gets the most contact with the ball. It's the greatest position there is because you get to be the ruler. Without the setter to toss the ball, there wouldn't be any spikes for you to hit."

"I know, but even though the setter as an important job you don't really stand out very much, do you?" Shōyō asked as he squirmed in Kageyama's tight grip.

Kageyama rolled his eyes and sighed heavily before letting go of the short teen. He stared down at Shōyō with dark narrowed eyes and his hands on his hips. It almost looked as though he was disappointed in him. "I'm guessing you've never seen a major volleyball tournament in person, have you?"

"No."

"And you?" Kageyama turned his narrowed eyes to the girl leaning on the wall of the gym.

Sakura was slightly surprised that he even addressed her. She thought he was just going to ignore her existence completely, which she would have been fine with. Though now that he has taken to talking to her, guess she'll have to engage with him now. Especially since he'll probably be around her since he's on the team.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't care enough to watch it."

Kageyama narrowed his eyes at her, as if asking her why she wouldn't care about _volleyball_ since it was all he ever thought about. He turned back to Shōyō sharply, "You can't tell by the angle they show on tv but pay attention to the end of the court. From there you can see how fast the setter tosses the ball. It flies straight across the court, the ball passes right in front of the face of the other team's blocker, _then_ just when you start to think, 'no way! He's never going to hit that one!' There's a spiker just waiting to strike and he smashes the ball just in time."

From his words, Sakura could tell that he was extremely passionate about volleyball, just like Shōyō. The only real difference in their love for the sport was that Shōyō wanted to be the ace and Kageyama, the setter. It made her think that these two were more similar than she previously thought. Yeah, they're both volleyball-crazy, but Kageyama is arrogant and controlling while Shōyō is humble and shy, at times. Yet they both had this burning passion for the same sport, and they would do anything just to play it. Including teaming up together to ensure they get to join the club.

"Y-yeah," Shōyō stuttered.

"The spiker's job may be flashier but the spiker can't get through without the setter to get the opponent to block and break the wall." Kageyama explained with so much passion lacing his voice. "It's the most important, cool, and challenging position on the court, okay?"

The orange-haired boy pursed his lips, "Yeah, sure, fine, I get it. You wanna be the setter."

Their minds flashed back to the penalty that their soon-to-be captain set for them, which caused Kageyama to grunt. "Damnnit! What with that guy?"

"All you have to do is win. You seemed pretty confident when you challenged them to a match earlier."

Kageyama seemed to think for a moment, his thoughts sticking firm to the idea that he would only serve to Tanaka on Saturday. "Okay!" He suddenly exclaimed, "We've got until Saturday to work on your crappy receiving."

"Crappy?!" Shōyō bristled at the accusation, "But we can't get into the gym."

"Ahem," The three then heard Tanaka in the gym. Suspiciously, he was talking a tad bit louder than normal as he seemed to angle himself to face the window. "I forget we start practice at 7 AM tomorrow, don't we?"

"Uh, yeah, is that a problem?" 

Tanaka quickly tried to cover his suspicious and loud question, "Ah, not at all. Anyway, do you think the vice-principal's nappy rug made it out alive."

"We're not supposed to talk about that," Daichi deadpanned to the younger boy.

Endo piped up with a chuckle as he remembered what happened only a few hours ago, "it was still funny though."

" _Endo._ " 

Outside, a plan that the first-years came up with silently was mutually agreed on. "Alright then, 5 AM," Kageyama said curtly before the two boys started to walk off beside each other. Sakura watched them with a small smirk, seeing that the competition between these two was certainly going to entertain her for a while.

Shōyō nodded his head, "Don't be late."

"I won't."

Sakura watched in annoyance as the two idiots started to race each other to the exit of the school. She would let the two of them run on there own, there was no need for her to chase after them. Especially since they were far faster than her. So, she just lazily started to walk after them, with her bag slung over her shoulder and her brother's in her hand. He would realize that he left his bag at some point. Might as well as be a helpful sister to her impulsive brother.

* * *

Sakura yawned loudly as she sat on the stairs leading to the gym. It was five in the morning and she was not happy. Mornings are tough for her as it is, but being woken up at about four just to get here on time was something that definitely made her grumpy. She didn't even have to come to this! This was Shōyō's thing and had nothing to do with her. Sakura would much rather be sleeping in for another few hours instead of sitting on the stairs to a locked gym. Yet here she was. All because Shōyō said that it "wasn't safe for her to ride her bike by herself and as the older brother, he has to keep his imouto safe!" She had such a caring brother... good grief.

"Should have seen that coming," Shōyō said defeatedly as he tried to open the gym doors, "it's locked."

"Okay, let's go through the window," Kageyama said casually as if he hadn't just suggested committing a crime.

Shōyō turned to him with wide eyes at the idea, "Are you crazy? We'd end up getting expelled."

"Let him do it, Shō." Sakura mumbled out while leaning on her knees, "If he gets expelled, one less pain we have to deal with." Kageyama glowered down at her which she returned with one with equal ferocity.

There was then another pair of footsteps heading in their direction as a tired voice spoke up, "Man, 5 AM is too early."

"Tanaka-san?"

The second-year yawned loudly as he approached the trio. "You got two hours, and then beat it." He flashed the gym keys he had volunteered to take the other night to the teens.

Shōyō's eyes sparkled in admiration, "You're awesome!"

"Thank you!" Kageyama exclaimed.

Sakura deadpanned, "It's cold, let us in."

Tanaka laughed loudly, almost sounding insane in Sakura's opinion. "Yeah, who's your hero first-years? Call me Tanaka-senpai!"

"Tanaka-senpai!" Shōyō and Kageyama chorused.

"What was that?!"

"Tanaka-senpai!"

"How about you, Hinata-chan?" Sakura just pinpointed a glare on the older boy which caused him to freeze up. Like hell would she call him senpai right now. She was far too tired for any of this. He chuckled and turned to the door to open it. "Okay, punks. Let's get cracking."

Though it seemed like things were certainly not going to start out on a good note since the boys were already starting to bicker. "Get out of my way," Shōyō exclaimed as the two boys fought to even walk through the door. "I'm going to be the first one on that court!"

"You can't be first if Tanaka is already on it, dumbass!" Kageyama yelled as he pushed against Shōyō.

"Then why don't you let me go!?"

Tanaka groaned, already knowing that this was probably going to be the longest two hours of his life. "We don't have time for this."

Fed up with their childish behavior, Sakura pushed the two bickering boys which caused them to fall on the floor tangled together. She scoffed down at them with narrowed eyes as the annoyance was clear in her eyes. Lightning stuck behind her as she glared at her brother and his new teammate on the ground, "stop being annoying."

Shōyō bowed his head from Sakura's narrowed eyes, "sorry, imouto."

Kageyama looked up at Tanaka apologetically. "Sorry, boss, we've got a long way to go on those combinations."

They turned on the lights of the gym to get ready for their first practice. Sakura situated herself to sit by the entrance and pulled out some work to do for school. It wasn't like she had much to do, but she needed something to pass the time. Besides, it's not like she was completely interested in watching her brother and the former king fight with each other. Honestly, they were like an old married couple!

"Wow! Check it out!" Shōyō marveled as he stared around the gym.

"You were just here yesterday..." Tanaka pointed out lamely.

It didn't matter that he had been here already, Shōyō would always be in awe at the same gym that the Tiny Giant practiced in. Not only that but his first real practice with high school volleyball players. Not that practicing with Koji, Izumi, or Sakura wasn't good. It was just different getting to do with other volleyball players who were also trying to improve their skills instead of people just trying to be stand-ins. Either way, Shōyō was ready to get to spike some real sets!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was significantly longer than the first and so satisfying to finish! Though I can't wait to finally get chapter three done, that's probably one of my favorite episodes of season one. That may or may not be because my favorite character is introduced... hehe.
> 
> Ah, I finally introduced Endo Joji. I know he didn't say or do much in this episode, but I promise he'll develop more as a character as the chapters go on. Though this blond boi is definitely more complex than you'd think. Guess you'll just have to find out. I did try to make it clear that he does look foreign when compared to the others on the team, which is true. Joji isn't fully Japanese, but I'll save those details for later, okay?
> 
> While I have an idea about what the overarching plot that I'm going for is going to be, there is still one thing that I'm unsure about. That is... whether or not Sakura should have a love interest. I've written plenty of stories with my characters being in relationships and such, but I was unsure if I should add that in for Sakura. And if I do, then who should it be? Oh, well, that could be decided a little later, I've still got time to choose.


	3. The Formidable Ally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHA! I finally finished something! It's taken me a lot longer than expected to try and get motivated to write anything. However, I had a feeling that I could at least get this chapter done. I am trying to get myself back into writing a little just about every day, but it's proving to be harder than I thought. Anyway, here's chapter three: The Formidable Ally!!

**SNEAKERS SQUEAKED ACROSS THE POLISHED GYM FLOOR** as the newest members to the boy's volleyball club practiced with each other. Though by practice, it was really just Kageyama berating Shōyō every time he did something subpar. At this point, Sakura had gotten over listening to the king yell at her brother. She knew already that Shōyō might not be the _best_ volleyball player, but he had raw athleticism and passion for it. While it annoyed her to listen to the boy, who she had found a large dislike for since last year, talk badly to her twin, Sakura didn't feel a need to shout at Kageyama for belittling Shōyō. Perhaps it's a good teaching style? After all, it usually takes a lot to instill a lesson in Shōyō for him to actually understand it. Maybe getting yelled at would speed up the process. Besides, it's always a hassle having to confront someone as temperamental as Kageyama.

"Damnit!" Kageyama shouted in frustration as Shōyō, once again, missed a receive and had dove flat on his face. "Stop dragging your feet, what happened to those reflexes you had? Get it together."

"All I've been doing is receives." Shōyō complained and jumped up, "Kageyama, we're running out of time I wanna jump around, I wanna do some spikes."

"Well, that's too bad!"

"That's enough!" Tanaka shouted at the younger boys, obviously annoyed with their behavior. Perhaps Endo was right the other day, having to help these two morons will definitely be trouble. "A word to the wise, Daichi's a nice guy most of the times but you will not like him when he's mad. Trust me."

The two chorused together at the reminder, "Yeah, we know."

"If he were to find out we were practicing early, I'm so dead. Not that I'm afraid of him or anything, of course not, that would be ridiculously ridiculous."

" _Right_ ," Sakura spoke up boredly from the sidelines. A small amount of amusement tainted her words as she smirked from her seat on the ground, "you totally don't sound scared at all."

Tanaka bristled slightly at her words but cleared his throat and ignored her, "Anyway, its probably for the best that we keep this little practice session a secret between the four of us."

Suddenly, the gym doors slid open abruptly as the grey-haired third-year from the team burst through, startling the other boys. Sakura flinched slightly but outwardly kept her composer at the older teen's entrance. "Aha, just as I suspected." 

"Suga!" Tanaka exclaimed in surprise and worry.

Suga smiled widely, "Hey."

"How'd you know!?"

Suga chuckled at the second-year and started to put on his gym shoes, "Come on, something was obviously up. I mean why else would you offer to take the key to the gym when you always show up to practice at the last minute." Tanaka jumped at his words and slowly started to worry that he was in trouble with the vice-captain. Suga shook his head, knowing that they were worried about being caught. "Don't worry, I won't tell, your secret is safe with me. A clandestine crash course, pretty exciting."

The three boys sighed in relief knowing that Suga wasn't going to tell Daichi. Sakura snickered which caused the boys to stare at her with narrowed eyes, she obviously liked seeing them in distress. Shōyō seemed to be the only one who didn't find her amusement surprising or annoying. After all, he was pretty used to it at this point. Sakura just hid her laughter and amusement as they started to practice some more. What could she say, she liked seeing people in pain like this. She found it to be one of the most amusing things.

Tanaka and Kageyama paired up so the king could practice his setting with the outside hitter. Shōyō had been denied getting to hit any sets and instead had been paired with Suga to do some more receives. Shōyō was certainly getting frustrated that he couldn't do the one thing he had wanted since he first set foot in the gym. 

Sakura wanted nothing more than to just head to class already. After all, she had nothing to do at this point. It's not like she was also a volleyball player who could practice with them. She served no purpose at the moment. Sakura would have left already if it wasn't for the fact that Shōyō had begged her to stay for "moral support". All she could do was grumble to herself on the sidelines as she fell victim to his puppy-dog eyes. Sakura could never really say no to her brother, especially not when it's about something he _really_ cares about. So she was forced to just watch the four boys practice for a while.

Tanaka screamed as he jumped up in order to spike another ball over the net from Kageyama. Once he hit it over, he was pumped at his own powerful hits, "Whoo, I'm on fire!" 

Shōyō was distracted by watching Tanaka's powerful spikes over the net. He watched in fascination and envy, why didn't he get to spike balls? Why was Kageyama so insistent that he didn't get any sets? Sure, working on his receives was important, and he should improve on them, but he should also get to practice his spikes! He was then brought back to his own task when he was hit in the head by a volleyball. Suga shook his head at the distracted boy, "Hey, you're not paying attention."

The orange-haired teen just ignored his upperclassman and shouted at the stubborn setter, "Hey, I wanna hit too. Throw me a bone here Kageyama." The setter turned to Shōyō with his ever-present scowl. "You're all about your sets aren't ya? Go ahead, send one over this way. Come on just one, for practice, please?"

There was a moment of silence as Kageyama pursed his lips at Shōyō before turning away from him, "No."

Shōyō, Tanaka, and Suga all blanched at his blunt answer. How could this guy be so cruel? To bluntly reject Shōyō's enthusiastic attempts to work on his volleyball skills. Did he dislike Shōyō that much!?

"Aw man, don't be like that!" 

"Yeah, dude send him one," Tanaka agreed.

At the upperclassman's exclamations, Kageyama turned and spiked a ball straight at Shōyō. The orange-haired boy was not ready to receive it, so the ball bounced off his forearm and flew over by Sakura. Said girl watched the interaction with narrowed eyes as her upper lip started to lift in a sneer. She caught the discarded volleyball and held it tightly in her hands, it almost looked like it was going to pop as her annoyance started to fester. The young setter shook his head, "I sent that one head-on, you receive to make a set and attack. Don't run your mouth if you can't follow through. I'll be sending all the sets to Tanaka during the match on Saturday. Leave all the attacking to him. You just do your best to not get in my way."

Anger started to bubble up inside of the small teen at Kageyama's dismissive behavior. He let out a breath, "Okay, fine, then as soon as I get good enough at receives will you at least throw a few sets to me too."

"I'll set to whoever I have to to win." He dramatically turned around to face Shōyō, "It's just, I highly doubt that person is going to be you."

"Watch your mouth," Tanaka grumbled at the blatant disrespect from the first-year.

Suga gasped, "How's he ever going to learn if you not going to set to him?"

Kageyama brushed off their reprimands and started to walk away, "It's almost seven, we should clean up."

"Oh, crap, hurry up! We can't leave any traces!" Tanaka shouted as he ran off to start hiding any signs that they had been there.

Suga also ran off with the same amount of panic, "We need to find a mop!"

Kageyama bent down to pick up one of the discarded volleyball to start cleaning up. His shoulders were tense like they always had been, as he seemed to scowl at nothing in particular. His back was still turned to the smaller volleyball player, who continued to glower. His anger simmered within him at the what Kageyama had said. Sakura, who has gathered all of her things, walked over to her brother and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down. Shōyō visibly relaxed but there was still a lingering wave of annoyance wafting off of him. She always had a way to calm him down just with her presence, most likely a twin thing.

Once Kageyama did stand up to put the balls away, he found himself being hit in the back of the head which nearly sent him to the ground. He clutched the back of his head and growled lowly at the fact that someone had decided to hit him. The angered setter spun around to see who wanted to face his wrath so much only to find Hinata's clone standing in front of her brother with a scowl.

Her thin lips were screwed so tightly into a frown, that it almost seemed like it would be stuck like that. Her right eye twitched slightly in anger while she glared at him. Kageyama almost had half the mind to shiver. Even though she was such a small girl, she was just as terrifying as a six-foot boy. "Asshole," she only said one word, but it was enough to keep Kageyama from saying anything else. With that, she grabbed her brother and started to get him to help clean up. Right now, all she wanted was to get away from that dick and head to class. She was starting to get a headache now.

* * *

"Wow, Hinata-chan!" Shimada marveled with sparkles in her eyes as she looked at the pictures on Sakura's camera. The pictures that Sakura had taken the other day of the boy's volleyball club had come out really well, apparently. They only needed a few edits to be made here or there, but other than that they were perfect for the yearbook or newspaper or anything else. Honestly, Shimada thought that they could be used for professional posters. "These look awesome!"

Sakura scratched her cheek slightly to hide the small hint of pink that spread up her ears, "Thanks." She was used to getting compliments, though they were mainly just from her family as she never really showed anyone else her pictures.

The two of them stood in the hallway outside of Shimada's classroom, which is where they agreed to meet up the other day. After all, Sakura wanted to show her senpai that she had already taken some pictures. To show that she was quite enthusiastic about being in the club, which she wouldn't say out loud.

"You've got a real talent here." Shimada complimented with a large toothy smile, "Especially, with these action shots, even I wouldn't be able to get shots like these!"

Sakura could feel the tips of her ears starting to turn a dark red, but she remained calm. "It's not that big of a deal..."

Shimada gaped at the girl, the seeming dismissal of her natural talent was disbelieving. "Are you kidding, I swear these could put on a bunch of posters or something!"

Her shiny eyes drifted off into space as she imagined seeing Sakura's pictures on a poster that could bring even more attention to the photography club. If people actually liked these, then they may be inspired to join the club! After all, as the president, Shimada is always looking for new members at any time.

Sakura watched her as the third-year mumbled to herself about the pictures. She slowly took her camera back from her senpai and eyed older girl wearily. "Well, I'll send you the pictures later, when I get home."

Shimada still stuck in her own fantasy about the club getting tons of new members, nodded her head absentmindedly. "Sure, sure."

"Alright," Sakura said putting the camera around her neck and turned to walk away with a lazy wave over her shoulder, "later."

She made her way through the third-year hallway and started to search for her brother who she was certain had found a space to practice. Eventually, she turned a corner and found the arrogant setter that she despised standing by the vending machine. He lazily sipped on a drink of milk while looking around the corner, seemingly trying to listen in on something and stay hidden. Sakura could hear her brother and Suga talking just around the corner. She knew that Shōyō wanted to practice some more during the break. He was adamant about fixing his receives in order to get Kageyama's approval to practice spikes.

Why he wanted his help was beyond her. The arrogant "King of the Court" has got to be the biggest assholes that Sakura has ever encountered. She could just set some for him if he asked, as she has done so in the past. Though she knew it was more than just practicing, it was teamwork. Kageyama and Shōyō had to work together now after they had vowed to beat each other when they next saw each other. Though they couldn't really do that if they were on the same high school team. So Sakura understood that Shōyō wanted to prove himself to Kageyama not only as a rival but as a teammate. In order to do that, he has to get Kageyama to set to him, at least once. 

Shōyō was so determined to get this to work out, especially now that they had the match on Saturday. If anything, Sakura thought that he wanted to prove himself to Kageyama that he had improved, even if he couldn't use these new skills against the king. If it were her, Sakura probably would have given up at this point. She wouldn't go as far as Shōyō to prove herself. Another difference between the two of them.

"You know, it isn't nice to eavesdrop." Kageyama jumped slightly at the sudden voice and nearly spit out his milk. He turned to find the cold stare of the second half to the Hinata twins pointed at him. Sakura stared at him and clicked her tongue. "Listen, I know my brother can be a lot to handle, but you're not helping anyone by being a jackass."

"Hn," He grunted and took another sip of his milk. Her words didn't mean all that much to him, not really. All he wanted to do was ignore her just like he ignores her brother.

Sakura let out a long sigh and stared up at him with a tired and bored expression, "At least try to work with him. You are _teammates_ after all." With that, she brushed passed him and walked around the corner to see Suga and Shōyō practicing. She was ready to just sit by the boys and watch them practice while enjoying her lunch. 

All the while, Kageyama watched her go with narrowed eyes. However, there was a small flame that started to burn in them. He wasn't sure why she was trying so hard, considering she must know how stubborn he is, but she was definitely adamant about trying to get him to work well with Shōyō. It was almost admirable, to him. To stick up for her brother against him.

 _How the hell are those two idiots twins?_ Kageyama wondered to himself. After all, they seemed to be on the opposite ends of the spectrum from each other. Shōyō was overexcited while Sakura was unenthusiastic. Shōyō couldn't intimidate an elementary kid, but Sakura could strike fear into anyone's hearts, and he spoke from experience. They looked so similar to each other, yet acted nothing alike. Honestly, Kageyama was quite certain that he would actually get along with Sakura if it wasn't for the fact that she was related to the annoying ball of sunshine. He shrugged his shoulders at his thoughts and decided to head back to class. After hearing what Shōyō said to Suga and Sakura's words, he had a lot to ponder over.

* * *

The next for the volleyball club was pretty lackluster. After what had happened yesterday, today seemed to be kind of boring. The craziness that had happened with the first-years had definitely caused a stir within the team. Add in the fact that the team now also had their own photographer now, and the guys were pretty enthused about what the rest of the year would be like. Though since those two first-years had not been allowed to practice with them, and their photographer most likely wouldn't be at the practice today, it was probably going to be a boring day.

Suga and Tanaka let out a large yawn together. They were obviously tired after having to be at the gym early for the two first-year morons to practice. Though even if they wanted to try and hide that fact, their captain was quite observant, "You two look sleepier than usual."

The two jumped at Daichi's observation and spun around to face him with fake smiles. Hoping that they were able to keep their secret under wraps. "Uh, really?" Suga questioned wearily, "Maybe I've been studying too hard or something."

"I've been studying hard too," Tanaka joined in, which earned a pointed glare from Suga.

"It doesn't sound very convincing when you say it."

Tanaka glowered, "Eat it."

"Oya Oya," Endo slid over to the two and wrapped his arms around their shoulders. It seemed like he didn't know the term "personal space" at the moment. His sly blue eyes watched his two friends with a teasing spark in them. He overheard the conversation and knew that he had to butt in, as he usually does. Endo certainly couldn't miss any possible tidbit of gossip from anyone. "It looks like you two are hiding something, huh?"

"Excuse us." A different voice interrupted Endo's attempts to get the scoop over his friends' tired behavior.

"Oh, hey guys." The captain greeted the two new people who now stood in the doorway. The two of them were tall, like extremely tall. The tallest of the two was a blonde with black-rimmed glasses on his nose and headphones around his neck. The other was a boy with light brown hair and a light dusting of freckles on his cheekbones. The others marveled at the sheer size of the two boys and stared in awe. "These are the other new first-years. Normally, we'd wait till next week to start new members but since we have that match on Saturday, we're making an exception and bringing them in now."

"Nice to meet you," the two newbies said together as the brown-haired first-year bowed while the blond didn't.

Endo eyed the two of them closely. He sized them up, just like he did the other day with Kageyama and the Hinata twins. His blue eyes were sharp and observant as he watched the shorter of the two stood up from his bow. Now, Endo usually has a very good idea of a person after first meeting them. 

The big, blond beanpole seemed to be the one to watch out for. He almost seemed a bit annoyed that he had to be there. Like he didn't like the fact that he even joined the team, which made no scense cause it was his choice. Though there was a certain kind of malice around him that Endo didn't like all that much. A bored arrogance that kind of reminded him of their new little paparazzi-chan. Though she wasn't arrogant in any way from what Endo saw, unlike Mr. Glasses.

The other boy seemed to be a meek kind of guy, to Endo. He wasn't much like the other first-year as he was shorter and had a light brush of freckles over his cheeks. Endo thought he looked like a nice guy, unlike the blond. Though he'd have to wait a while to figure out just what their deals were. 

Either way, with this new set of first-years, Endo knew that they were all in for an interesting year. He smirked widely as his eyes sparkled dangerously. Endo couldn't wait to see what kind of drama pops up from all of this.

* * *

Sakura let out a tired pant as she put away her bike at home. Her and Shōyō had just arrived home after their long bike ride from school. It was extremely late and she was a little peeved off that she would have to stay up a bit later to do her homework. She really should have done it while she waited for her brother in the meeting room for the photography club. However, she ended up taking a nap there by accident.

It wasn't until Shimada had woken her up and told her that she was locking up the room that she finally went to meet up with her brother. Though once she found Shōyō and Kageyama, both of them seemed to be beyond exhausted and horribly annoyed by something. She didn't question it, as she didn't want to be dragged into whatever it was that angered them. The king especially seemed to be angered by something or other. Still, Sakura didn't care.

Though now that they were home, it seemed like she was going to end up involved anyway. As soon as they had gotten inside, greeted their mother and little sister, and went into their shared room to settle down before dinner, Shōyō had started to rant.

"Calm down, Shō," She said while plopping down on her bed. "You're going to give me a headache with your complaining."

Shōyō sighed heavily and jumped on his own bed after already talking extremely fast. He was just so heated after meeting Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. After what they said about Kageyama and how they dismissed him so easily. Though it was more Tsukishima than Yamaguchi, Shōyō would admit. Either way, it was still frustrating!

"I don't know why he would even say that!" He exclaimed in anger as his face started to turn red.

Sakura leaned up on her arms to face her brother, "Hold on, hold on. What did he say?" It wasn't like she cared all that much, but she knew that if he didn't rant about it, she would never hear the end of it. Better to just let him vent and then shut up about it than let his emotions bubble over. 

"He said that Kageyama's nickname was from his team and not other people, and then he said that his team probably abandoned him and Kageyama got upset by it, and he called me short, and ignored me, and even said he'd throw the game on Saturday because he doesn't care!" Shōyō said all in one breath.

With all of that information to process, Sakura stared at her brother with wide eyes. She had no idea how he hadn't passed out from lack of oxygen after not breathing for that long. He was obviously upset by what that guy said, which was obvious from how he wouldn't sit still and he was rambling a lot.

She tilted her head back onto her bed in disinterest, "who was this again?"

"Tsukishima Kei and Yamaguchi Tadashi!"

She hummed in acknowledgment, she didn't recognize those names, so they must be in another class. Either way, she didn't care enough to really think about it. The more pressing matter on her mind was the home that she'd have to do in a few minutes. Besides, Shōyō has a tendency to over-exaggerate things. So for now, she'd take what he said with caution. These guys might not be as bad as he says, or they are, she didn't care. As long as they don't bother her, she has no opinion on them.

"Well, I want to get my work done, so should you." She lazily grabbed her school bag to take out her assignments for the night. If she got them done now, then all she had to do was eat and go to sleep.

"But—"

She cut him off and threw his own bag at him, effectively shutting him up and giving him a bruised face. "Worry about those guys later, you have homework."

Shōyō huffed at her but did as she said and started to pull out his work. There was no need to argue with her at all, especially over something like homework. She was always the one to focus on assignments and grades more than him. Sakura studied as much as she could to get the grades she got and did a very good job at it. She constantly encouraged Shōyō to focus on his schoolwork at times when he had been too obsessed with volleyball to do his homework. It's a good thing she did, or Shōyō definitely would have failed some of his classes. So he did as he was told begrudgingly, though he muttered under his breath every once in a while. Sakura just shook her head at him and started her own work.

* * *

Just like yesterday, Sakura was forced to wake up at the ungodly hours of the morning by Shōyō. He pestered her to get up as quickly as possible, eat a small breakfast, and mount their bikes to head to school. She was far more annoyed than the previous day since she got even less sleep than last night. A grumpy, sleepy Sakura was not a good Sakura. Nobody better mess with her today, or they're probably going to end up fearing for their lives.

Still, she went with him even if she complained all the way there. What kind of a sister would she be if she didn't go? This was for Shōyō's sake as he wanted her there for support. She could never deny something from her twin. He was probably her only weakness, honestly. Shōyō could most likely make her do anything if he flashed her his puppy-dog eyes for long enough. 

Things were just about the same as yesterday. She still sat on the sidelines and watched Shōyō, Kageyama, Tanaka, and Suga practice together. Sakura will admit that she did take a small nap while she waited, which ultimately ended up with her being squished by Tanaka as he gushed about how cute she is... only to end up with a nice fist-sized bruise on his cheek after that. 

Though now it was lunchtime, thankfully. Shōyō, once again, had met up with Suga to practice as much as he could, which left Sakura alone for the time being. Now, she would have gone to sit with them and munch on her food, but she wasn't up for it. Too tired from waking up so early for two days in a row had taken its toll on her. She's a growing girl who needs her sleep! A full night's sleep is always important, especially to Sakura.

So, here she was, sitting on the ground underneath a tree casually eating some rice. It was quite peaceful to be by herself. She should really do this more often. All her life, she's kept herself practically glued to Shōyō's side, as he did the same with her. They never strayed far from each other as they always calmed each other down if Sakura got too heated, or Shōyō got too enthusiastic. They knew how to control each other's emotions when they needed it. Their mother always said that they were inseparable since birth, which is true. Though she also encouraged the two of them to try and do things on their own. So, Sakura moved on to photography at the beginning of middle school to try to distance herself from Shōyō. Though no matter how much she tried, she really couldn't do it. Being separated from her twin for a long period of time always made her anxious in a way. 

Though at this moment, for a short time, she was perfectly content without Shōyō. Just munching on some rice, lazily scrolling through the pictures that she has already taken, and enjoying the quiet.

Though the quiet didn't last as long as she would have liked.

“Hey, shorty," A snide voice said which caused Sakura to stiffen at the name-calling. "I thought you would be practicing non-stop, you seemed quite hell-bent the other day. Did you lose your determination already?”

“What?” The orange-haired teen turned around to glare up at the boy walking up to her. 

Tsukishima's eyes widened a fraction as he realized his mistake. This certainly wasn’t Hinata. While they did have the same hair, small stature, and pale skin, she also was… well, a girl. Her feminine features were quite a dead give away of that, even if there weren’t many. Her cheeks were soft and round with wide brown eyes that were currently glaring up at the beanpole. Obviously, she wasn't that happy with being called "shorty".

Yamaguchi gaped, seeing that they mistook the girl for the spit-fire volleyball player. He flailed his arms, “Tsukki didn’t mean that! We thought you were someone else.” He sharply bowed down at a ninety-degree angle in apology. "So sorry!"

She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled, “hm?” She stared at the two with a calculating gaze. They were freakishly tall, compared to her. They made her look like a little kid with their height. She's used to being short but these guys were just making it ridiculous. 

The one who was frantically apologizing had light brown hair and a multitude of freckles covering his cheeks. The other one was blond with glasses and headphones around his neck. The bored look in his eyes was something that was mirrored in her own. Well, at least she knows that she's had that same look before. As people have told her.

She narrowed her eyes, “how do you know nii-san?”

Neither of the giants were surprised that the girl in front of them was related to the annoying first-year. It would be especially weird if they _weren't_ related because they were nearly identical. They didn't hear Hinata say that he had a sibling, let alone a younger sister, at the school or anything. Then again, they've only had the one interaction with him and it didn't include talking about family.

"W-we're in the volleyball club with him." Yamaguchi coughed and scratched at his blushing cheek. He glanced down at the girl and saw the bored glare she had on her face. If he had to be honest, she scared him just a little bit, and all she had done was ask a question. Scarily enough, it reminded him of his best friend. Oh boy, another Tsukishima?!

She pursed her lips and seemed to relax just a little bit. A small amount of tension washed away from her face, though she was still wasn't completely relaxed. She clicked her tongue and tilted her head, "Oh, I see. You're Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, right? The two other first-years on the team."

Yes, she had heard quite a bit about the two of them. Shōyō had ranted and raved about them last night even after she made him do his work and eat. It was quite easy to rile up Shōyō as he could be a bit sensitive and emotional about the littlest of things. That being said, usually, Sakura didn't take what he would say to heart, especially when they were about a person. However, she would make a bit of an exception at this moment. While Yamaguchi didn't look like much of a bad guy, Tsukishima was a bit of a different story.

The freakishly tall blonde stared down at her with narrowed eyes. He stood over her with a standoffish kind of attitude that she didn't really appreciate. Not only that, but he seemed to be entertained that he annoyed her. The lenses of his glasses gleamed slightly when the light hit it the right way, making him just a tad bit more intimidating. Though that didn't affect Sakura.

"Ah, Hinata didn't mention a sister," Tsukishima said.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "pretty sure it was because you were too busy berating the king and underestimating my brother."

Tsukishima eyed her for how she referred to Kageyama as his volleyball nickname and the distaste that coated her tongue. Someone else who didn't like the King? It's to be expected considering how arrogant that kid can be. Still from what she said, it almost seemed like she was _defending_ him. He scoffed, "I didn't think you would care about the _king_."

"I don't," Sakura eyed him lazily and turned back to her food. "I don't care what you say about him, I only care about you thinking less of my twin. You definitely riled him up yesterday." Her eyebrows scrunched up in distaste, "thanks for that, by the way, I had to listen to him complain about it all night."

The blond huffed, "whatever, I was only stating facts."

Sakura hummed, uninterested. She certainly wasn't going to rise to the bait that Tsukishima was trying to set out for her. Sakura knows what type of person he must be now, and she didn't appreciate it. He was the type to enjoy discord and upsetting people to a certain degree. Putting people down must be his favorite pass time, she thought. Though, unlike Shōyō, she was uninterested in what he may have to say, "Sure, sure. Now, can you two leave me alone, I was enjoying my lunch until now."

Yamaguchi nodded his head frantically, seemingly wanting to not upset her since having mistaken her for her brother. "Yeah, sure thing Hinata-chan!" He started to push Tsukishima back in the direction that they had came from. Yamaguchi definitely didn't want his best friend to end up upsetting another person. He's used to Tsukishima's abrasive and blunt personality by now, though he knew that he liked to be mean to others. Yet upsetting Hinata-kun's younger sister was probably not going to be a good idea. Then Tsukishima would have both of the twins on his case, Yamaguchi was just trying to save him the trouble of having to deal with them.

She grunted as she heard the two of them start to walk away from her. Though she couldn't help herself from saying the last word, "Word to the wise, my brother is definitely going to give you a run for your money, beanpole." She glanced over her shoulder to stare up at him. Her bored, coffee-brown eyes bored into his sharp, golden ones as a small smirk lifted the edges of Sakura's lips. "Doesn't matter if you want to throw the game or not, he's not gonna leave you alone now."

With those last words, the two other first-years turned to leave. Leaving behind tension now residing between Sakura and Tsukishima. While Sakura was not going to let go of the fact that the blond had tried to belittle her brother, Tsukishima was annoyed that she was nothing like her brother. Sure, he didn't know that she was actually his sister instead of Hinata himself, but he would have hoped that she would be easy to rile up just like him. Yet all he got out of her was light scoffs and eye rolls. She was far more controlled and calm than her twin, that was for sure. Those twins were complete opposites of each other, and it kind of ticked him off. Though he didn't dwell on it for long as he would rather dismiss the girl entirely. No doubt in his mind, she'd just end up being another annoyance that he'll have to deal with.

* * *

The next few days were a blur for Sakura. She woke up with Shōyō for the rest of the week to go with him to his practices at the gym. Sakura had gotten better at waking up, but it still bothered her. She enjoyed her sleep immensely, she didn't like missing out on it. Though she still helped her brother when he needed it. She kept him focused on his school assignments when he was too distracted by practice, or even helping him at home with his receives. Shōyō's skills had improved a lot in the past few days thanks to the practices with Kageyama, Suga, Tanaka. No doubt, he'd be ready to get a set from the infamous king soon enough.

So now on a nice sunny Friday morning, Sakura watched as Kageyama spiked yet another ball at Shōyō. She and Suga had been watching both of them go back and forth with each other for a while now. Shōyō was throwing himself around the court to receive all of the hits. He had improved exceptionally since the beginning of the week, which both Kageyama and Suga noticed.

Tanaka then came in through the door, late as usual. He eyed the two boys who were practicing already. He walked over to Suga and Sakura with a quirked eyebrow. "Damn how long have those two been back and forth like that?" 

Suga shrugged his shoulders, "Well, I got here like fifteen minutes ago, so."

"It's been nonstop? Wow!"

They watched as Shōyō fell down after hitting another ball back towards Kageyama. Despite showing signs of being completely exhausted, he was still willing to push himself to the limit. It was nothing new to Sakura, as she's seen it plenty of times from him. Some times, she wished she could be like him in that regard. To push herself even more to do something, to have that powerful amount of motivation and determination within her. Though it seemed like Shōyō was the twin to get all of that, while she was stuck with next to none.

"Everybody has their limits!" Kageyama suddenly shouted as he hit yet another powerful spike at Shōyō. He received it perfectly despite his forearms stinging so much as they turned a bright red from so many hits. "Let's take a break--"

"NOT YET!" Shōyō cut him off loudly, "No! It hasn't hit the floor!"

"Okay, fine." He exclaimed before hitting the ball again, only for it to go soaring over Shōyō instead of straight at him.

"That's brutal, can he hit that?" Tanaka asked loudly as Kageyama blanched at his force of habit.

"Hinata-kun has had amazing athletic ability since middle school," Suga said as they watched the small teen rush after the ball. He gained Tanaka and Sakura's attention, "But besides all that, he's got this insane thirst for victory that keeps him going."

"That's just how Nii-san is," Sakura spoke up from beside him, now drawing both of the older boy's attention to her. "He likes a challenge and will do anything to prove his worth." She clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes as she grumbled, "Plus, he's far too optimistic for his own good, honestly."

They watched as Shōyō pushed himself one step further and dove at the ball, successfully saving it from hitting the ground. "He did it!" Tanaka cheered as they watched him in shock, "Nice one, little man!"

Kageyama watched the ball come back towards him as he started to remember Shōyō's sheer determination. Not only that but Sakura's words about them being teammates now. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to actually work with him. After all, it would be counter-intuitive for him to keep putting down his new teammate. So, Kageyama set a spike up from Shōyō to the surprise of just about everyone.

"Here we go!" Tanaka yelled.

Suga stared with wide eyes, "There it is, he finally set him one."

"Too bad," Tanaka said as they looked over to the panting Shōyō, "there's no way he's got enough strength to spike it down."

Though at the sight of an actual set, the biggest grin broke out on Shōyō's face. Sakura couldn't help herself but feel warm inside at the sight of her brother being so happy. Something as simple as a volleyball being set up from him to spike brought such joy to her twin, and in turn to her. All she ever wants is for Shōyō to be happy like this. They watched as Shōyō sprinted up to the net and jumped to a seemingly impossible height for someone like him and spike the ball to the other side of the net.

"I gotta hand it to him, the kid can jump." Suga marveled as Tanka stood in surprise at Shōyō's unrelenting athleticism. 

"I can't believe he managed to hit that." Tanaka said in shock as they saw sparkles radiate off of the small teen, "Check out the stupid look on his face."

Suga started off in space as he started to think about when he and Shōyō had been practicing during breaks. "So I guess getting a set must be really important to the guy, huh? I suppose getting tosses from a setter is something we always took for granted."

Sakura shook her head as she reminisced about their time in middle school. The reminder that it was something amazing for Shōyō to actually get a setter to set him a ball. Since he never truly had someone to help him out, other than her. "Nii-san didn't have anyone to really set him for spikes. I did my best, but there's only so much I can do." She did her best to help Shōyō with setting him some spikes when they were in middle school. She wasn't the greatest setter, but she was decent enough to help him at least a little. Though she wasn't the most athletic when it came to helping him overall with volleyball. Still, for him, she did her best. A small smile made its way onto her face one that neither Suga nor Tanaka thought she could possibly muster, "I'm glad he's finally got what he wanted; a team."

"Hey," Kageyama said while looking down at the tired teen who panted on the ground, "tomorrow we'll win."

Shōyō nodded his head firmly, "Yeah, tell me something I don't know!" His cheeks then inflated as his face started to turn green. All that exercise must have made him sick as he threw up all over the floor.

"Aw, that's sick!" Tanka screamed in disgust as Suga instantly started to run around to help Shōyō.

"Tanaka, get some water! Oh god, and a bucket, and some towels!"

Sakura walked over to her sick brother, making sure to avoid the mess, and patted him on the back. "You'll be fine, Shō."

* * *

Saturday was usually a day that Sakura used to sleep in, like most other people. Though today was different, as she had a feeling that most of her weekends were going to be. It was the day of the match between the first-years. Though at the moment, she watched as her brother started to sprint at full speed towards the gym.

Sakura rolled her eyes at Shōyō's behavior. Why he decided to try and race Kageyama to the gym was beyond her. All he'd do is tire himself out before the game. Literally, as soon as they had put the bikes down, he had taken off running once he saw that Kageyama was ahead of them. She had to hand it to her brother though, he was pretty fast. 

There was still no way that she would run after him, so she strolled after them at a leisurely pace. She wouldn't have come to the game, as Shōyō even said that she could rest for the day. Sakura had argued that if she had to get up all week for him to practice, she was going to see how well he did at this match. 

She finally walked up to the gym to find a glaring match between Kageyama, her brother, Yamaguchi, and Tsukishima. Sakura raised a delicate eyebrow at them and scoffed, "you guys are ridiculous." They're all on the same team after all. How were they suppose to work together if they had some petty disagreement with each other? She just lazily raised a hand at them in greeting, "Hi, Yamaguchi-san, beanpole."

Tsukishima looked over at the girl he wasn't exactly expecting to be there. After all, it was a match just between the team, so why would she be here? "Ah, if it isn't shorty number two."

"Hey, don't call her short!" Shōyō jumped to his little sister's defense like a good brother should.

"Calm down, Shō." Sakura just waved her hand dismissively, "He's just annoyed since he knows he'll lose this game." She took pride in seeing the small twitch in the blond's eyebrows as his golden irises sharpened dangerously.

Before Tsukishima could say anything else to the orange-haired girl, A different blond popped his head out of the gym door. "Aw look at that, you're all getting along so well!" Endo teased them all with a sly smile. He then caught sight of the only girl among the group and cheered happily, "Hinata-chan! Here to take even more pictures of me, huh?"

Sakura took a deep breath and disregarded the second-year as she walked through the group to enter the gym. She grunted at the older boy in greeting and didn't give him anything else to satisfy his ego. Today was definitely going to be a different Saturday for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah finally finished it. My favorite character has finally been introduced, yay!! Tsukishima is such a salty boi, hehe. Man, I really like writing this episode, it was such fun. I totally think that Sakura is literally the female version of Tsukishima. She's just a tad bit less mean, you know. Anyway, I'm still undecided about the whole love interest thing for Sakura. A couple of you guys gave some good suggestions and they seem totally cute, but I just can't decide. At least I don't have this problem with Endo! I definitely have already decided for him, you'll just have to wait to see whether or not he has a love interest or not. Let me know what you thought of this chapter! Until the next one!


	4. The View From the Summit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? An update on time? A consistent update? WTF! I'm kind of impressed with myself for actually getting this done on time. Hehe. Hope this is good!

**SAKURA SETTLED HERSELF ON THE GROUND BESIDE** the scorekeeper with her camera ready. It's not an official game or anything, but she still wanted to take some pictures of the boys. Might as well as practice taking some pictures for the team, right? So while the guys set up for their match, she got comfy on the ground next to Suga.

The door opened once again, and the stunning third-year manager walked through the door, "Good morning, everybody."

Ennoshita greeted her like a normal person should, "Hello there."

Yet the resident idiot did not. "You're looking as beautiful as ever my dearest Kiyoko!" Tanaka shouted at her like a mad man, only for her to ignore him like usual. Still, despite the girl not doing anything, he still shivered at even being in the same room as her. "Aw, yeah being ignored."

Sakura looked up at the older girl with a blank expression as the black-haired beauty walked over towards the scoreboard. "Oh, morning Kiyoko-senpai." 

"Hello, Hinata-chan." She said, "I didn't think you would be here."

Sakura shrugged her thin shoulders and pursed her lips, "Well, nii-san had forced me to wake up early for his practices all week. I want to see how those practices have helped him improve."

"Hey, Kiyoko!" Endo suddenly greeted the manager with a charming smile as he bounded over to the two. 

"Hello, Endo," She replied back in aloof voice and then moved away to get ready for the match, effectively ignoring Endo as he approached. Though, unlike Tanaka, her ignorance didn't affect him. He was neither enchanted nor upset that she walked away from him. At least he wasn't as perverted as Tanaka, Sakura thought. The blond looked down at her with a sly smile, "ready to see how well your brother and Kageyama fair in this game, Hinata-chan?"

Sakura's eyebrow twitched at the fact that he called her 'hinata-chan', but she disregarded it for the time being, "I guess."

Endo tilted his head curiously, "aren't you worried about him? He just might lose this match, you know."

She shrugged her shoulders and glanced up at him from the corner of her eyes, "I don't care if he wins or loses. He won't be punished if they do lose, which is all I care about."

Endo eyed the bored girl for a moment and contemplated her reaction. You would think that she would want to see her brother actually win this game. Yet here she was, perfectly content with either outcome. If it were him, Endo would probably be cheering his heart out for his sibling. Then again, he and Sakura didn't really have the same personality, so he wasn't sure what she would do at this match. He could understand her logic about Hinata-kun not being punished if he did lose the game. There wasn't much on the line for the kid besides maybe his pride, and suffering through the humiliation that came with losing a game. Though if she really did care for her brother, wouldn't she want him to win? Isn't that what a sibling is supposed to do? He wouldn't know.

Before he could say anything else to her, his captain grabbed everyone's attention. "Alright, let's get started." Daichi took charge to start the match, "I'll play on Tsukishima's team to make it three-on-three."

Shōyō jumped up with confusion painting his face, "Huh!? Is that fair though?"

The captain chuckled, "Look don't worry, of course, it is. Tanaka has got a lot more attack power than me. I won't go easy on you though."

"Aww, but Daichiiii," Endo whined while leaning against the captain with faux tears tunning down his face. "I wanted to play against the troublesome duo!"

Hinata and Kageyama bristled and shouted out in annoyance at being called the 'troublesome duo'. Though he wasn't wrong. Daichi sighed loudly and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration, " _Endo,_ shut it!" You would think that he would be used to the third-years antics, but Endo could always be a nuisance when he needed to be.

The blond boy gasped dramatically and pretended to cry into his arm. "You're so mean, captain!"

Tsukishima eyed the strange interaction before clearing his throat and pretending to whisper to Daichi, though he made sure the others could hear him. "Well, ahem, the buzzcut or the shorty, who to crush. I mean, challenge first. So hard to choose, but I do know I want to save his highness for last."

"Uh, Tsukki," Yamaguchi walked over and whispered to his best friend with urgent hesitancy. "They can hear you. Be careful."

"I know genius, I want them to hear me." He rolled his eyes at his best friend, he spoke louder for the others to hear once again. "I can't wait to watch the king fall apart out there."

"Well now," Daichi chuckled, "you've got quite a personality there don't you?"

Sakura scoffed from the sidelines and made sure that the beanpole could hear her, "Yeah, a terrible one." Endo snickered into his hand at her comment as he walked towards the others, finished with his dramatic act. Her words had earned her the pleasure of being on the receiving end of the blond's narrow-eyed glare. She didn't mind it though, she just ignored the burning stare as she lazily leaned on her arms.

Tsukishima's glare hadn't let up on the unaffected girl as he continued to speak, "It'll have to be a pretty great show to top watching him get abandoned by all his loyal subjects last year."

Kageyama's fist clenched at the jabs about his past. While they may be true, he didn't like being reminded of it. After all, it was one of his lowest points as a volleyball player.

"Well, well," Tanaka sang as he walked over to the troublesome duo with a sweet smile. "Did you hear that you guys, they're talking trash now. That jerk better step off..." He then turned around with a menacing expression, "OR HE'S DEAD MEAT!"

"Suga-senpai," Sakura raised an eyebrow at him and looked up at the vice-captain who turned to look at her. "Please tell me he isn't always like this."

The upperclassman sighed, "I'm afraid he is." All she did was groan in displeasure. 

* * *

The game started with Shōyō, Kageyama, and Tanaka against Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Daichi. Sakura honestly didn't care who won this match, despite saying that Tsukishima was going to lose earlier. Sure it would be nice for her brother to win, but if they did lose nothing would really happen to Shōyō. His pride might end up being wounded, but she knew that he would bounce back eventually. The only one who was really at risk was Kageyama, who would not be allowed to be a setter. So she didn't care. Though it would be nice to see Tsukishima's ass handed to him. That would definitely be entertaining.

A few points had already been scored, and at the moment, Kageyama had just set a spike for Tanaka. The second-year easily broke through Tsukishima's block. "YEEAAAAH!! WHOOOHOO!!" Tanaka shouted at his scored point and pulled off his shirt to spin around like it was a lasso. 

"Put your shirt on!" Suga shouted at him with annoyance lacing his words.

Ennoshita rolled his eyes, "Yeah, calm down." 

"Nobody wants to see that," Kinoshita said.

Endo shook his head, "It wasn't even that impressive!"

Sakura just pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed loudly. _God these guys are annoying,_ she thought. The match continued on with Daichi serving the next ball.

"Front!" Kageyama called.

Tanaka moved to receive the ball confidently, "Got it!"

"Hinata!"

An excited expression blossomed on the short teens face. His first real spike in a high school game! How awesome!!! He couldn't wait to feel the satisfaction of hitting the ball over the net, scoring his first point in a real game. Shōyō jumped up, more than ready to spike the ball, to the surprise of everyone in the room. Seeing a small teen like him able to jump at least a few feet in the air was amazing. Even Kiyoko was stunned by the sight right in front of her. Sakura though was unfazed, as she has seen it a million times before. Though just as Shōyō tried to get it over the net, the extremely tall Tsukishima was there to make a perfect kill.

Shock flooded Shōyō's body as he realized that this was just like middle school. Another wall to block him and keep him from scoring. His twin clicked her tongue. She expected that it would be blocked at some point. After all, you can't really do much against someone as tall as Tsukishima. He's a giant.

"You took me by surprise before," Tsukishima said smugly as his glasses gleamed slightly in the light, "you've got a really nice jump there. Now if only you were about a foot taller you would be a real superstar. Better start taking your vitamins."

On the sidelines, Sakura scowled harshly at the boy. She usually isn't one for showing her emotions, at least externally, but when someone constantly berates her brother, she was definitely going to show her displeasure. What was with this guy and hating on just about everyone? That sadistic bastard certainly got a kick out of it, which Sakura was ashamed to say that she was just about the same. As if knowing what she was thinking, Tsukishima smugly smiled at her as well. Seemingly figuring out that he could get to her by speaking like this to her twin. It almost seemed to amuse him, even more, seeing that he had riled up the other twin, even if it was just a twitch of her brow and a deep frown.

"Whatever, one more. I got this one for sure." Shōyō said in determination before the game continued. He was set a few more spikes, but each time they were blocked by the same smug beanpole. Things certainly weren't going as Shōyō had hoped.

"Blocked again," Suga said, dejected.

Ennoshita nodded his head, "How many times is that?"

"Tanaka's getting a lot through though," Kinoshita said, trying to lighten up the mood.

Though Sakura, ever the Debby-downer, shrugged her shoulders, "the only way they'd actually win is if nii-san is able to get his spikes through. You can't really win a game with only one spiker breaking through blocks."

" _Wow_ ," Endo said and leaned on the top of Sakura's head, to her annoyance, "you're quite the pessimist aren't you, Hinata-chan."

"Don't touch me, baka!" She shouted and pushed the poor third-year away, who ended up falling to the ground on his face.

Back on the courts, Tsukishima taunted Kageyama, who did his best to ignore the blond. "You better snap out of it buddy, or you're going to keep getting blocked." Kageyama made sure to keep is back to the giant, not willing to reveal that he was bothered by the jabs. "Why don't you give them one of your royal sets, the kind that wipes out your opponent _and_ your teammates at the same time."

The dark-haired setter flinched a little at the reminder but made sure not to show any other indications that he was affected by those words. "Shut your mouth."

The boys set up for the next service to be made, which Daich called out, "Your serve, Tadashi."

The meek boy took his spot for the serve and hit it... only to have it fall short and hit the net. "Oops," the freckled boy sheepishly said while tubbing the back of his head. "Sorry Tsukki." Endo snickered at the poor boy's misfortune.

"Shake it off," the captain encouraged while Kageyama got ready to serve the ball this time. His jump serve was quite impressive, just like Suga had seen from a few days ago. Sakura had made sure to get at least one shot of him in mid-air. She may not totally like the guy, but he did make a good subject for photos. 

He aimed his serve for Daichi, thinking that he might be weak at receives, but found out that their captain can easily make it. Caught off guard by that fact, Tsukishima was easily able to set the ball for Tadashi who spiked it over the net. Shōyō wasn't ready to receive it, so it just hit off of him and out of bounds.

Tanaka walked over to Kageyama, "Steady receives like that are Daichi's specialty. They got mad defense."

"Did you think I would be a weak spot?" The captain asked the first-year with a raised eyebrow. "I may not have as much raw talent as you, but I've been training on receives a lot longer than you have. You won't break through that easily."

Okay, even Sakura had to admit, Daichi sounded cool.

"Your grace, shouldn't you be taking this seriously?" Once again, Tsukishima took the time to call out Kageyama.

Endo did his best to hide his small smile. The sight of drama was something that he lived for! Seeing this, gave him such good entertainment. It would be even better if he could interject himself into it. Causing drama and being involved with it was what he thrived on. Though there was no way he'd really get to get in on the action. This was just between the first-years and whatever beef they have with each other.

Shōyō walked up to the net and glared at Tsukishima, "Dude, what's the matter with you? Why do you have to keep picking on the guy? Chill out with the frickin nickname."

"What for?" The blond scoffed, "Don't you know why everybody started calling him the "King of the Court"?"

The ball of sunshine furrowed his eyebrows. "I just thought his enemies called him that because he's a really good player and well everybody so afraid of him."

Tsukishima laughed at his stupidity and naivety, "That's a common misunderstanding but it's just not true. Well, if the rumors are to be believed then his nickname, "King of the Court", was given to him by the other players of Kitagawa First. Yeah, that's right by his own teammates. The truth is they were not paying him a compliment but calling him a tyrant." Endo was eating all of this up, if only he had some popcorn. "I've been hearing about it for a long time, but now that I've seen him play, I'm convinced. He got benched at the finals because he was a domineering, power-tripping, dictator. That's why you won't try a quick attack, you're shaken up by what happened that day."

There was a short moment of silence as everyone took that it. They knew that Kageyama could be full of himself and abrasive to others when they played, but they didn't really think it was that bad. Meanwhile, Kageyama was remembering that faithful game. How he snapped at his team and ended up with a mutiny at match point for their opponents. Being put on the bench was probably the worst feeling for anyone, especially someone as passionate about volleyball like him.

"Wow," Sakura spoke up and couldn't help the humorless chuckle pass her lips. Tsukishima glanced at her from the corner of his eye, with his smug smirk still on his lips. She must be surprised by the truth, which is understandable. The orange-haired girl didn't seem smart enough to realize the truth. Though she just flashed him a fake smile with annoyance shining in her eyes. "I didn't think anyone could be a bigger jerk than Kageyama. Congrats." Tsukishima glared heatedly before he scoffed at her. Of course, she didn't see the point of what he was saying. She really was just as idiotic as her brother.

"You know what," Tanaka said approaching the net to glare at the bully, "I've had enough of your smarmy ass-"

" _Tanaka_." Daichi reprimanded him, which only made the second-year pout slightly.

"Well, why bother setting if there's no one there to spike it?"

"You're right," Kageyama started solemnly, "The thought of no one being there to back me up, it terrifies me, alright?"

Admitting that must be a big step for Kageyama, Sakura realized. Talking about your flaws was not usually an easy task. So for him to say that, he was certainly improving himself. Perhaps Kageyama wasn't going to try to be "The King of the Court" anymore, thank god. High school is the time for reinventing yourself, after all.

"Yeah, but that was back in middle school," Shōyō said innocently, surprising Kageyama. "Your sets are going to reach me. No question about it. After that, the only problem is how to get passed this jerk hole." He said pointing to Tsukishima and earning a snicker from Daichi, Tanaka, and Endo. Though a shake of the head from Sakura, she would have thought he would come up with a better insult, had she taught him nothing? "You need to kick Tsukishima's ass, join the volleyball club, and become the setter, just like we planned. Then you have to send the ball to me, it's not that complicated."

As uplifting as Shōyō's words might have been, they didn't impress Tsukishima. "Oh, shut up. That over-the-top, annoying little attitude of yours is disgusting." He took the ball and got ready to serve it. His words were starting to rub just about everyone the wrong way. Nobody knew why he was being so... mean to his opponents. "And enthusiasm won't make you any taller. If you think trying hard is all it takes to succeed you're sorry mistaken."

The ball was served, and Tanaka received the ball. As it flew through the air, heading straight for Kageyama, Tanaka and Shōyō both called for it. Who would he set it to? Tanaka may be able to get it through even if he is blocked, thanks to his power. Hinata would most likely not get it through, seeing as he hasn't gotten one during this entire game. Who was the better choice in this situation?

"Kageyama!" Shōyō's voice broke through his contemplation. He turned his eyes up to see the small teen already in mid-air ready to hit a spike, "I'm here!"

Making up his mind he easily tossed the ball to Shōyō to hit it, which he did. It wasn't a powerful hit, but it still got over the net, to the surprise of everyone. He landed back on the ground happy with himself but still dejected, "That was close, almost jumped at nothing... but it's out."

"What the hell was that for?!" Kageyama shouted at him.

"The ball came right towards me!" Shōyō shouted, surprising Kageyama into silence, "I don't care what happened in middle school, I'm grateful for any set that comes my way, I just want the ball. I'll jump anywhere. I'll hit any ball. Believe me, give me set and I'll hit it."

Tanaka rushed up to them with wide eyes. "You guys can do quick attacks and didn't tell me!"

"What's that?" Shōyō tilted his head in confusion.

"That crazy fast attack you just did!"

"Uh-uh," he shook his head, "no, the only attacks I've hit were way up in the air."

Tanaka groaned, "You literally just did it. Look remember in middle school when that rookie setter mess up that set but you hit it anyway? Like that!"

"Huh? But I don't remember how I did it. Whatever, I'll still hit whatever set comes at me. You just wait and see!"

On the sidelines, Endo leaned down to Sakura. He made sure this time that he didn't touch her, as he didn't want to end up bruised. "That brother of yours is sure something huh, Hinata-chan."

Sakura huffed at him, "Stop calling me 'Hinata-chan', you nuisance."

"You've never done combos before, so that's impossible for you."

Lightning struck behind Shōyō in shock. How could he just say something like that?! "Don't be ridiculous, you don't get to act like a wimp just stop it!"

Kageyama just glanced at him, indifferent, before walking off. Tsukishima chuckled and called after him, "Not very regal of you, sire."

Shōyō blanched and glared at Tsukishima, "You're going to pay for that, I promise you."

"Look at that, getting all bent out of shape again." He looked down at the short player with a small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. It seemed like all he ever did was smirk, and it infuriated a few people. "You can't just bulldoze your way through everything, you know that right? Not everyone is a good fit for every job you know. I mean, you're clearly not cut out to be a spiker."

Sakura grounded her teeth together while clenching her fist. Oh, if only she had a volleyball to throw at this jerkwad. Seeing her anger start to boil over, Suga bent down slightly and placed a soft hand on the top of her head, to hopefully calm her down. Though all it did was cause her to stiffen up at the sudden touch. Did he not hear her with Endo a few minutes ago?! She didn't lash out at him though, as she figured he wasn't doing for the same reason as Endo. Still, she didn't totally appreciate it. The sentiment of calming her down was nice and all, but she'd rather go without the touching part.

"You're right, in middle school, even now, no matter how much I jump I always get blocked." Shōyō admitted, "Height is important for volleyball you can't always just jump real high to make up for being short like me, but still that never stopped me from wanting to be a spiker." He remembered the awe that came from watching the Tiny Giant, the way that he amazed his twin with his jumps when he first tried to play. He liked that feeling, the satisfaction that came with surprising people, especially his sister. You could argue that she was one of the main reasons he wanted to succeed so well, along with becoming the next Tiny Giant. "I don't care whether I'm cut out for it or not, I'll do the best I can with what I got and I'll win. I'm on this court and I'm not going anywhere."

Tsukishima let out a breath in frustration, "Have you even listened to a word I've said. It doesn't really work that way, shorty. You can't substitute spirit with height unless you want to be a libero that is."

"I open up the wall and block the spiker," Kageyama, who had been quiet since this little spat between Shōyō and Tsukishima started, walked over to stand side-by-side with Shōyō. He spoke firmly to them, he was obviously passionate about this. "That's the setter's job."

Everyone else in the gym watched as Kageyama pushed Shōyō's head down and started to talk with him. Most likely discussing their plan of action for the rest of the game. Eventually, Tanaka was dragged into it as well, so he would know what exactly it was that his team was thinking. Surprisingly, even Sakura was interested in what they were talking about, though obviously couldn't hear them.

Once the boys finished their huddle, Tsukishima set up to serve the next ball which was easily received by Shōyō. He was ready to spike the ball like last time, though this time around it wasn't going to be as weak or out of bounds as the first. Yet he wasn't ready for how fast Kageyama had set the ball. He completely missed hitting the quick set. Shōyō landed on the ground with the volleyball falling lifelessly to the ground a few feet from him.

"How'd you miss that! You have to-" Kageyama started to shout but cut himself off from probably insulting Shōyō and bit his lip. He seemed to have learned from the past and didn't wanna risk repeating it. Shouting at Shōyō would only result in a mutiny, once again. Kageyama certainly didn't want that to happen again.

Tsukishima chuckled at his opponents' misfortune, "Nice ball, your highness."

"Nothing ever works out on the first try!" The setter exclaimed in frustration.

"Hey, that's what losers say."

The troublesome duo still kept trying to get their hit right. Though each and every time, Kageyama's sets were a bit too fast for Shōyō to hit. On one try, Shōyō had even ended up tangled in the net because he jumped too far. It wasn't working out at all. Though Endo found it quite funny how they easily got frustrated with each other. Still, it probably would be better if he saw this happening to another team. After all, he was going to end up having to work with these two idiots eventually. Endo certainly didn't want to have to deal with this in the middle of a game, that could totally cost them a win. And Endo is all about winning!

"I can't guess your timing at all," Shōyō miserably said.

"You have lightning-fast reflexes," Kageyama shouted, "you just need to give it more pow, more oomph!"

Shōyō grew frustrated, "Is it oomph or pow, make up your mind!"

"Don't get caught up in the terminology!" Tanaka jumped in between the two.

On the other side of the court, Suga picked up the discarded volleyball and walked over to the fellow setter. "Kageyama, you need to make sure you don't let history repeat itself." He gained all of their attention, "Uh, what I mean is uh-"

Kageyama pointed at Shōyō, "He's got super fast reflexes, and he can jump, he can learn how to quick attack."

"That's not really what I'm getting at though." The third-year shook his head, "I think I know how you guys can be more effective. Hinata doesn't really know what he's doing out there."

At those words, Shōyō deflated slightly, "That's kind of harsh."

Suga continued on, "He doesn't have technique or experience like a lot of the people you competed against in middle school. But he's a rare asset."

The orange-haired boy's mood spiked happily at being called a "rare asset". His ego certainly got a bit of a boost at that. Who wouldn't be empowered after having their senpai call them an asset like that? "Ah, really? Aw come on, I'm not like a genius or anything."

Tanaka turned to him with a bland expression, "Who said that?"

"If I had your skill..." Suga continued on in a strained voice, "I mean think about it maybe you should try adapting to more of Hinata-kun's characteristics instead of the other way around. Don't you see what I'm saying? Then, maybe-"

"Take it easy Suga," Tanaka tried to calm his friend down.

"It's up to you to use his talents more effectively!" The silver-haired teen exclaimed, "I'm a setter like you, so I was honestly a little freaked out when I saw you play last year. You've got incredible talent and control over the ball. But most of all you're good at analyzing the opponents blocking moves and you make decisions on the fly. I've got... none of those things."

"Don't you say crap like that!" Tanaka exclaimed, not putting up with how Suga was putting himself down.

Daichi stopped him, already seeing how Suga was trying to help, "Hold on, just let him talk, okay?"

Suga continued on with his pep talk for the younger boy, "You're good at what you do and almost have too much determination. But your ability to assess your surroundings is your most important skill. So pay closer attention to your allies!"

Suga then walked back off of the court to let the boys discuss their plan. Hopefully, his words had sunk into Kageyama. This could help them significantly if they figured it out correctly. Endo patted him on the shoulder with a large smile, "Good job, vice-captain! Such wisdom!"

Sakura tilted her head as she watched her brother and Kageyama talk with each other. While she couldn't hear them that well, she figured that they were going to work together to the best of their ability. If there was one thing for certain, she knew that when posed with a challenge, both Kageyama and Shōyō would rise to it. The two of them were extremely competitive, to an annoying degree.

So the service was set by Daichi and easily received by Tanaka. In the zone, Kageyama assessed his surroundings and was ready to make the most precise toss to Shōyō as he could. He calculated everything perfectly and set the ball at an amazing speed. It only took a split second, but the ball was suddenly hitting the ground on the other side of the court. Everyone stared in awe at the turn of events. It actually worked?

The small spiker stared at his hand as it became a slight pink and stung a bit. "I... touched the ball!" Shōyō exclaimed and started to laugh hysterically and turned to Sakura, "Did you see that imouto!!"

"It wasn't that great," Tsukishima said lamely. Honestly, what was so amazing about just hitting the ball over the net. These simpletons were awed by anything.

"Guys," Daichi walked over with wide eyes and an expression of terrified awe, "he just did that with his eyes _closed_." Everyone jumped in surprise at that fact. Closed!? His eyes were closed? How in the name of kami had those two been able to do that?! What kind of madness was this! Daich went on to explain further, "From the moment his feet left the floor to the second he swung his arm, Hinata-kun's eyes were closed. Kageyama just made a pin-point toss into his hand, but Hinata-kun wasn't even looking at the ball! I don't know how he did it, but his timing was _perfect_."

During his explanation, Shōyō just continued to laugh in amazement. That feeling in his hand brought him such joy and accomplishment! "That's awesome! You guys, I don't know what happened but I just hit something! Did you see that? Huh!"

Kageyama spun to him and pointed at his with wide eyes, "Hey, what did you do? Your eyes weren't really shut, were they!?"

"Um, well you're the one who told me not to look at the ball," Shōyō explained sheepishly. "If I kept my eyes open I knew I would look at it."

"I wasn't telling you to-"

"But... but it worked, right? What's the big deal?"

"I know it worked but-" Kageyama started off in frustration, "what kind of person acts totally on _trust_?"

"I can't help it! Trust is the only way I know how to do it!"

Sakura shook her head at the question. It may seem impossible, but that's just what Shōyō is like. She may have not been as surprised by that, but that may just be because she grew up with him. Sakura has never known her brother to be any other way. A scense of trust that she could never have. He was different from her, in every way.

So the game continued on, with more failed attempts by Kageyama and Shōyō. It almost seemed like their magical quick attack was a one-time thing. Kageyama set the ball for him once again, though this time it was too far from the net and ended up hitting Shōyō in the face. "Sorry," he apologized to the fallen teen who now had a red cheek.

On the sidelines, Ennoshita shook his head as he added a point to Tsukishima's team, bring the score to 22-15. "Hmm, I guess that first time was a fluke."

"Yeah," Suga said with a hand on his chin in thought, "but I can tell their precision is already starting to improve."

"You really think so?" Ennoshia asked his upperclassmen shakily like he couldn't believe that. Sure the attack was pretty cool, but it certainly isn't consistent. They have yet to hit it even more than once.

"Doing good, Hinata-kun!" Endo cheered for the shorter teen and aimed a cheeky smile down at him, "just hit the ball with her hand, not your face."

"Yeah, I know." Shōyō said sarcastically and started to clean the floor while holding his bruised face, "That hurt."

The manager walked over to the boy in slight concern and bent down to him, "Are you okay?" 

"Ah, y-yes ma'am!" Shōyō exclaimed at her appearance and worry over him. Slowly but surely his face was starting to turn a bit red in embarrassment. He abruptly looked over to Kageyama who had a slight smile. Though he wasn't smiling at Shōyō's misfortune, he was contemplating how doing this, keeping up with Hinata and the game was actually... Fun. "What are you smiling about this is the second time I've been smack in the face. I'm starting to think you're doing this on purpose. You do know we still have to win right?"

"Of course I do!" He roared and spun around to get ready for the rest of the game.

"Aw man, it's not working," Shōyō whined rubbing his cheek before looking down at his stinging hand.

Sakura walked up to her twin and placed a hand on his shoulder in encouragement. Her camera swayed around her, almost being completely unused. She had taken a few pictures, at least one shot for each of the players, but that was all. After all, she has been pretty invested in the game, whether she wants to say it out loud or not. The outcome didn't matter, but with this developing quick attack, there was no way that Sakura could really look away. "You'll get it nii-san." She squeezed his shoulder before bonking him on the head with her fist, "now kick that beanpole's ass. If you don't, you know I'll make fun of you for it."

Shōyō nodded his head, knowing that she would mercilessly make fun of him for losing this game. She wouldn't usually do that, but this isn't a real game, so she's a tad bit more relaxed with her support for him and how she teases him when he loses. There was a strong spark of determination in his eyes, one that Sakura had seen plenty of times. She knew that he would do it, even if she didn't say anything to him. He was motivated to get this done!

The game continued on with Daichi serving the ball again with it being received by Tanaka. Like lightning, Shōyō ran up towards the net which drew the attention of the two other first-years who were ready to block him if he did try to spike it. There would be no way that he would be able to get through them, so he did what Kageyama had told him to. Go around!

He ran around to the other side of the net, throwing off Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. He may be shorter, but he could get through this. He could get that extra inch, that extra second to get around that gigantic wall. So he closed his eyes and swung his arm back. His hand came in contact with the ball. For a moment, he was able to open up his eyes and look to the other side of the net, just beyond Tsukishima's extended arm. Then he saw it, the view from the summit! It was even more amazing than he would have thought. 

It almost felt like it went in slow-motion, for Shōyō at least. Seeing his own hit going over the wall before Tsukishima could block it, Daichi missing it, and the ball hitting the floor, left an amazing feeling in his gut. So it seemed like that new spike wasn't just a fluke. 

"Yes!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter feels a bit lackluster. Considering that quite a bit of it is like internal thoughts of most of the characters and most of it has nothing to do with Sakura or Endo. Though I think that I did a pretty okay job with this. 
> 
> Sakura certainly doesn't like Tsukishima. She may have not liked Kageyama either, but she's warmed up to him, considering Shōyō had to work with him. Though it'll take a lot more to get her to actually like him. Though Endo is certainly loving all of this drama! It's probably going to be a very entertaining year for him. His third-year will probably be his best!
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you thought! Until the next one, my friends!


	5. A Coward’s Anxiety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm proud of myself for getting this done! Not only that but I aced two exams this week already! WOOHOO! Only one more to do tomorrow and it's time for me to relax. Hope this chapter is good!

**THE FIRST SET OF THE GAME WAS** coming to an end. Kageyama and Shōyō's team was quickly closing the gap between points. The air in the gym was starting to get thick with inspiration after watching this game. Overall, even if things may not be going well for one team, they were still all allies here. Some of the revelations that are being made, especially that quick that Hinata and Kageyama can pull off, things were going to start looking up for the Karasuno team. With a first-year who could very well be the next Tiny Giant, a prodigal setter, and a giant blond, the first-years were stacking up to have quite a lot of potential. Their three-on-three game was displaying exactly how well these boys worked together and their own individual strengths.

Sakura, continuing to take some pictures if she felt like it, watched the game with a critical eye. Now, she isn't a sporty person, actually, she just about hated any and all physical activity, but she knew things about volleyball. Thanks to her brother. Before she had seen any of the boys play, she had a feeling that they had at least some skill. The older members were pretty good in their own rights, though these first-years were on a bit of a different level. Shōyō and Kageyama's combo attack was so amazing, for one thing. If they were to perfect it, then Karasuno would have quite the weapon for their games. Though what did she know? She wasn't a volleyball player, just a photographer.

"Wow..." Suga sighed out in wonder with his brown eyes wide. He stood beside Endo and Ennoshita by the scoreboard who were just as in amazement as the vice-captain. On the other side, Kinoshita also stood in astonishment of the newest club members with Sakura seated by his feet, idly watching the game in seeming indifference now. The shock of seeing the quick attack from her brother and the king had worn off just a little bit by now. Especially after seeing them mess it up a few times, which she found to be quite funny.

"They did it again!" Ennoshita exclaimed.

"They turned it around," Kinoshita said in awe as he fixed the scoreboard so it was in team Kagehina's favor. "One more point and they'll take the first set."

The third-year vice-captain nodded his head in thought, "His timings better, it's improving by the second, impressive."

"I never had any doubt in those two weirdos!" Endo laughed joyfully with a toothy smile which earned some deadpanned looks from the other second-years, Suga, and Sakura.

Kageyama then went to set up another spike that had gone to Tanaka instead, effectively tricking the other team's blockers. The first set then ended with Kagehina winning 25-23.

"Yikes, he better keep a close eye on Tanaka too," Ennoshita sweatdropped at Tanaka's shouts. Why was he on a team with idiots like this?

With the first set finally over with, each team of three was ready to have a short water break before they started the next one. Though, Tanaka certainly was going to use this time to boast about his win. He had already taken off his shirt in celebration and began to taunt Tsukishima, "How do you like me now, Tsukishima! Weren't you going to crush me and Hinata-kun?"

Hinata jumped along with him in the back like an excited puppy, "Yeah! Yeah!"

"Try it if you can!"

"If you can!" the orange-haired boy echoed.

Suga broke Tanaka out of his shouts, however. "Why are you bragging the most, Tanaka?"

"Exactly," Ennoshita agreed, "without the first-years, you never would have made that hit."

"Yeah, don't get all cocky."

Endo nodded his head and chuckled, "Your voice is annoying!"

"Keep your clothes on," Kinoshita joined in on the berating of Tanaka.

"Look, I don't need any more smart remarks from the peanut gallery!" Tanaka roared and pointed at the other boys angrily. Even if it was true, couldn't they just let him bask in this win?!

"You know," Kinoshita started as the older boys glanced over at the other three players. "Tsukishima's team doesn't have a lot of initiative on their side. So the best thing they can do is try to block all those aggressive attacks."

Sakura took a quick glance at them to see that he was right. The three other boys didn't seem to really be into this game, unlike their opponents. Sure they didn't have much riding on their win and wouldn't be punished if they lost like Kageyama and Shōyō. However, you would think that they'd be a bit more... into the game. Considering they are also suppose to be showing off how good they are at volleyball for the team.

From her perspective, she thought that Yamaguchi was doing a pretty good job. Sure, he's not the best at volleyball, but he's certainly not the worst. His nerves may or may not get the best of him at certain points during the game, but he knew what he was doing. Plus, there's always room for improvement. To be honest, she liked him far more than his friend, the stuck-up giant. Tsukishima was talented at volleyball, Sakura had to admit. His tallness gave him an edge in the game and made his blocking skills better than most. He was obviously good at the game, but he didn't put much effort into it. Sakura didn't know why, and didn't care. So what if he wasn't going to play to his best ability, as long as it didn't effect the team as a whole or Shōyō, then Sakura didn't care what he did.

The whistle was blown, signifying the end of the break and the beginning of the second set. "Time for the second set."

"Ready!?" Tanaka shouted as his team lined up.

The First-years, with the same amount of enthusiasm, answered, "Yeah!"

The game continued on with each team scoring at least a few points. Honestly, it was quite a close game between the two. At one point, Shōyō had ended up getting a ball to the face. Thankfully, Sakura had her camera ready and snapped a picture of it. Yet another snapshot of her brother getting hurt to add to her collection. The game picked up the pace, so much so that Tsukishima appeared to finally take it a bit more seriously. Perhaps he does care, thought Sakura.

"Whoa, Kageyama is pretty amazing," Kinoshita said, once again marveling at the first-years skills. "And man, all those precision sets? He's really gotta stay focused."

Ennoshita placed a hand on his chin analyzing the troublesome duo, "Not to mention Hinata-kun's running around more than usual."

"Yeah, but..." Suga started watching them with a small smile as Shōyō hit another spike with his eyes closed, "They're having fun." With that final hit over the net, team Kagehina had won! They were quite exhausted, but it was worth it. "Good game."

The other orange-haired twin walked over to her brother as he shakily got to his feet. "You did good, Shō," Sakura said as warmly as she could to her brother and handed him a bottle of water. There was a small smile on her face, one that was only reserved for her brother as her eyes were shining with a sort of pride that always came about when she saw her brother do something amazing. And that freak quick was definitely amazing. She then turned to Kageyama, who also finally got to his feet after catching his breath, and her smile disappeared at an instant. "You too, King."

The boy scowled at her heatedly and roughly grabbed the offered bottle from her, "Don't call me that!"

"Hm," Sakura raised an eyebrow and eyed him for a quick moment. A spark ignited in her eyes before she smirked evilly at him, "I'll call you what I want."

He chocked on the water and growled as he tried to tower over the girl, in order to scare her, "No you won't." His intimidation didn't do anything. Nothing scared Sakura, especially not some temperamental teenage boy.

She clicked her tongue in amusement, "And who's going to stop me? _You_?"

That seemed to anger him even further as his face started to turn red in anger. Sakura continued to stare at him in a bit of amusement swimming in her eyes. As much as she liked not getting involved in anything, teasing someone every once in a while was a tad bit entertaining. So she couldn't help herself, especially if it was Kageyama. They may have gone on a little bit longer if it wasn't for Shōyō speaking up, "We should go shake hands with them."

He was referring to Tsukishima and Yamaguchi who were standing with each other in the corner of the gym. Neither of them seemed to be really willing to socialize with anyone else besides each other, at least not yet. That wasn't a good sign considering they were a part of the team now.

"Why?" Kageyama asked, finally taking his glare off of Sakura. "We don't have to."

"Yes, we do. All right. Let's go." Shōyō said firmly before walking over to the taller teens with Kageyama and Sakura following him, "Tsukishima."

The giant turned to look down at the little ball of sunshine. "What?"

"We're supposed to shake hands before and after a match. Though we didn't do that at first today." Shōyō started to explain with an outstretched hand before his face twisted slightly into a sour expression, "Besides, we're teammates now. Though that doesn't make me happy." Tsukishima stared down at him with an annoyed frown, obviously not willing to shake his hand in the slightest. It was something that he would never do in a million years! Shōyō saw he wasn't going to comply and started to whisper urgently, "Hurry up. Don't you know? They'll kick you out of the gym if you don't show team spirit."

Tsukishima blinked, "The reason why you two got kicked out was because you ignored the captain, started your own competition, and finally, blew the vice principal's rug off his head."

The troublesome duo went rigid at being called out, "N-Never mind the minor details."

"That's what got you thrown out?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow. She knew that they must have done something spectacular to be thrown out of the gym last week, but going as far as to knock off the vice principal's wig? That was definitely worthy of punishment. If only she had been there to see it. "Impressively moronic."

"Come on!" Shōyō shouted as he tried to attack Tsukishima into shaking his hand, which the tall teen tried to avoid. "Shake hands!"

Tsukishima dodged each of Shōyō's attack as best he could, with Yamaguchi's help, of course. "Wh-What are you doing? Get away from me! Stop!"

A little further away, the group of third-years and Tanaka watched them continue to shout at each other with confusion. "What are those first-years doing?" Tanaka asked.

"Becoming friends?" Endo guessed while scratching the back of his neck with a chuckle.

Eventually, Shōyō had gotten his handshake from Tsukishima. This left the poor blond staring at the hand that had been forcibly shaken in disgust and shock. Behind him, Yamaguchi seemed to be in just as much shock as him, "Are you all right, Tsukki?"

Kageyama and Shōyō had already walked away from the other pair of first-years, satisfied with the outcome of their talk with them. Though Sakura hung back just a moment, she did her best to keep the chuckles that threatened to spill out of her the best she could. She finally cleared her throat to grab their attention and flashed them a fake smile, the same one she did the other day during lunch. "I told you he wasn't going to let this go, _Tsukki_." Sakura earned herself a heated glare from the blond giant with didn't affect her in the slightest. She just smiled back at him with her lips turned up in a mocking smile before walking away.

 _Who does she think she is?_ Tsukishima scoffed to himself. This shrimpy girl was infuriating Tsukishima to no end! She and her brother were both starting to become thorns in his side at this point. How annoying.

Sakura returned to Shōyō's side and watched as he fumbled around to find his crumpled up application paper. To be honest, Sakura had to keep the paper save, since she had a feeling that Shōyō would have lost it at some point. He always did that. She couldn't count the amount of times he had lost his homework one way or another. He and Kageyama then jogged over to their new captain.

"Captain!" Shōyō's shout broke off whatever conversation that was being had between Daichi and Tsukishima.

"What?" He asked and turned to find Shōyō and Kageyama holding out their applications to him. The captain took the papers from them and then called out to the manager of the team, "Shimizu. The stuff is here, right?"

"Stuff?" Shōyō asked with a tilt of his head.

The lady-manager then came out with a cardboard box. They all peered into to get a good look at what was inside as she opened it up. Once they caught sight of what was in it, the troublesome duo gasped.

Now, the newest members of the team were all wearing their brand new Karasuno Volleyball Club jackets. Well, all of them were except Tsukishima, who has to be a wet blanket about everything.

"The sizes should be okay," Kiyoko said, "but let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks!"

Suga walked over to Tsukishima, who still had yet to put on the jacket, "Come on. Put it on."

"No, I'll do it later..." Tsukishima tried to deny, though that wasn't going to happen with Tanaka jumping over to him.

"Are you shy or something?" Tanaka asked, "Come on! Just put it on!"

"Wear it! Wear it!" Everyone started to chant, sans Sakura who was amused at the sight, "Wear it! Wear it!"

Now every first-year had their jackets on, and they all looked quite good in them. Sakura would have taken a picture of them but didn't feel like it. She's lazy, what can you do? Shōyō seemed to be the most excited about his new jacket as he jumped around in it to show it off. The first-years were complimented by Tanaka, "Looks good on you."

Suga agreed with his signature wide smile, "Yeah, looks good. Looks good."

Now, the rest of the team stood in front of the new members with smiles on their faces. Daichi addressed them, "We're the Karasuno Volleyball Club from here on out... Ready, and..."

The entire team then exclaimed together, "Good to have you with us!"

Sakura stared at the little welcome ceremony that the team had for the newbies and was warmed at the sight. Up until now, she had never seen Shōyō be welcomed into something like this. Sure, in middle school he had the small team of six that he had been able to scrounge together for that one game, but it was nothing like this. He finally had something, a team, to call his own. For a moment, it made her think. A short thrill of fear stuck her for only a millisecond at that thought.

He had somewhere. A place that Sakura couldn't really be. He had a team now that wouldn't really need her like in middle school. So what would happen to her? She has nowhere else, no one else, not really. Well, she had the photography club now... Maybe she could find a place there, considering Shimada seems to really like what Sakura had already done. If she tried, Sakura could have someplace of her own, away from Shōyō. Though that terrified her to an extent. Still, only time would tell what would happen to her. Perhaps she was just exaggerating over something silly. Even if she could be quite a logical person, there were times where she just worried too much.

It seemed like Kageyama and Shōyō were thinking along somewhat of the same thing as Sakura had. Well, the thought that they had a team now, not her crisis. They shared a glance with each other before turning back to their new team, "Thanks!"

Now the four third-years gathered in a small group as they watched the other team members go on about the first-years jackets. Though it was more like Tanaka was going on about the jackets while Shōyō bounced around with him with a nearly unbearable amount of enthusiasm. His twin watched him with a raised eyebrow and minuscule smile. Though it slowly turned into a smirk when she said something to Tsukishima which caused the tall blonde to deadpan at what she said. Overall, they seemed to be getting along quite well.

Daichi sighed, "Anyway, got that out of the way." He turned to his vice-captain, "Suga, you and Tanaka helped them out, didn't you?"

"What?" Suga jumped and raised his hands in surrender, "No, not really."

"Oh~" Endo purred and slung an arm around Suga's shoulders and poked him in the sidws, "That's what your little secret was, huh?"

Daichi continued on, "Anyway, it all worked out. Thanks."

Endo, Suga, and Kiyoko all shared a look with each other before approaching Daichi. "Good job," The three said to the captain while Kiyoko and Suga patted him on the shoulders and Endo flashed him a smile with his thumbs up.

"What?" He asked, "Hey."

"Hey, Hinata, are you rested?" Kageyama called out to the orange-haired boy and picked up a volleyball. "You ready to go? Let's practice quick attacks again. Let's go it while you're still in the zone."

"Yeah!" Shōyō agreed and ran over to the setter to start practicing. Sakura eyed them in scared facination. She was used to Shōyō's seemingly never ending enthusiasm for things, as he was a volleyball freak, but to now have another boy like that was kind of freaking her out. The girl could already tell that the two of them were going to become good friend, which she wasn't looking forward to.

"Tanaka-san, please bring the balls."

The second-year blanched, "You're moving around already?"

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, "The two of you never run out of energy, do you?"

"Perks of being a moron, I guess." Tsukishima spoke up from beside her. Sakura hummed at the comment but didn't say anything else. Once again, she wouldn't rise to any bait that the blond had laid out for her. The troublesome duo would have probably screamed at him for calling them morons, but Sakura was more reserved. So all he got was a slight eye roll and an indifferent hum. Frustrating him for yet another time.

Suddenly, the gym door bursted open violently as a man came in. He panted harshly which meant that he had just run to the gym. From the looks of it, he ran for some exciting news, "It's decided! It's decided!" The brown-haired, glasses wearing man flashed the group a large smile, "The practice match. It's against one of the top four teams in the prefecture. Aoba Johsai High School."

Everyone was shocked at the news for them. A practice match with Seijoh?! Whoa! Sakura thought back to whether or not she had heard of that school before. She believed that Shōyō had said it had one of the top volleyball teams in Miyagi, which is impressive. For a team like Karasuno to get to have a game with a team as pronounced as that was impressive.

Endo hummed at the news, a bit more indifferent to it than the others. In his time playing for Karasuno, he's never really played against Aoba Johsai. Sure, he's seen their games and was reluctant to say that they were quite a decent team. Though that was mainly because they had the _Grand King_ as their captain, not to mention that pretty powerful ace of theirs. Though he shouldn't worry about them. Endo shouldn't worry about those peasants who don't matter to him. Still actually getting to play against them will be interesting. He couldn't wait to see Trashykawa after so long.

"Oh." The man said as he approached the troublesome duo, "So you two are the controversial Hinata-kun and Kageyama-kun. I'm the volleyball club advisor starting this year. I'm Takeda Ittetsu."

"Hello," the two greeted him.

"I have no volleyball experience, so I can't help with your technique," Takeda explained with a smile, "but for anything else, I'll do my very best. It's good to meet you."

"Right!"

The teacher then turned his sights onto the other student who he was not familiar with. "Ah, and you must be the photographer I heard about." He bowed slightly to the girl who looked identical to the orange-haired boy. The only real different was that she was about a centimeter shorter than her brother, but you could only notice that if you looked long and hard that the two. Plus, her eyes lacked that childish spark that Hinata-kun had. Perhaps she was more mature than her brother. Lord knows they would need more mature minds around to balance out the troublesome duo. He marveled at the similarities between the siblings, "Wow, you look identical to Hinata-kun!"

Sakura sighed at once again being compared to her brother again. At least this time, she was refurred to the photographer first before she was she was called Shōyō's sister. "I'm afraid he's my twin brother," she shrugged her shoulders indifferently, "nice to meet you, sensei."

Daichi and Suga then approached the teacher with confused expressions, "Sensei."

"Ah..." Takeda started off sheepishly with a hand scratching the back of his neck, "I've been running around everywhere setting up the practice match, so I haven't had time to drop in here."

"But, Sensei, how did you get a powerhouse like Seijoh to agree?" Suga asked with wide eyes.

Daichi then worriedly asked, "You didn't get on your knees and beg again, did you?"

"No, no." Takeda answered with a close-eyed smile, "I'm good at getting on my knees and begging, but I didn't do that this time." Both the boys then sighed at that as Takeda looked down at the paper he had about the match, "But they had a condition."

The boys perked up and tried to sneak a peak at the paper, "A condition?"

"Kageyama-kun must play setter the entire game."

Everyone was surprised with the announcement that came with the match. The most surprised was a toss up between Kageyama and Suga. As the official setter of the team, it was pretty jarring for Suga to hear that he wouldn't get to play in the practice match. Why would Kageyama be chosen to be the setter for the entire game? He was a first-year, and not really on the starting line up just yet. Then that begged the question as to why Seijoh would ask that of them. Some one knew that Kageyama was at this specific school, they knew that he was on the volleyball team, and most likely wanted to play against him.

"What's that about?" Tanaka asked scarily which caused the teacher to sweat just a bit, "Sounds like they're not interested in Karasuno. They just want to assess Kageyama. Are they underestimating us? Are they?"

Takeda waved his hand, "Well, that's not quite how it is."

"Sounds good." Suga interjected, gaining the attnetion of everyone, "We don't get chances like this that often."

"You're going to agree to that, Suga-san?" Tanaka asked in surprise, "You're the official setter of Karasuno, Suga-san."

"I..." the vice-captain started, "I want to see how effective Hinata-kun and Kageyama's attack will be against a top four team."

The troublesome duo were surprised at their senpai's words. He didn't seem to be upset at the prospect of not being able to play. Though Tanaka and Endo were both a bit bothered at the idea of Suga not being able to play in this upcoming match. After all, they're only ever played with Suga as their setter. Looks like they're going to have to get used to Kageyama as their setter now, at least for this practice match.

Daichi glanced at Suga for a moment and earned a head nod before turning to their advisor, "Sensei, may we have the details?"

"Sure. Um..." Takeda started to explain, "the schedule is rather sudden, but it's set for Tuesday next week. It'll be after classes, so there will only be time for one game. We'll rent a bus after school... So make sure you're not late."

Sakura tilted her head and watched the team crowd around the advisor. _A practice match, huh?_ She thought, p _laying against such a skilled team as Seijoh will most likely be a challenge, especially for a team that only just got some new players. Though I'm interested to see how they do._

While Sakura wasn't exactly sure whether or not she could actually come with them, she was going to try her best to go with them. After all, this was going to be the first game that Shōyō has had since middle school. Hopefully, it would have a better ending than that one did. There were far better odds with their win than there were stacked against them. Sakura would certainly want to be there to see the game if they ended up winning.

After being told the last few details of the match, everyone nodded their heads, "Yes."

* * *

The gym was all cleaned up from practice now as they finished up. Sakura had grabbed her bike as they finished up putting away the last of the volleyballs and finished up mopping the floor. She met up with her brother once they were finished and found that they were heading down the hill to a convenience store at the bottom. So she was forced to go with them, since Shōyō hadn't wanted either of them to ride home alone. At least she would get something out of it.

"Suga-san!" Shōyō shouted as he and Sakura walked their bikes beside Tanaka and Endo. They were more than excited at what their captain was going to do with them. After all, free food is always a good thing.

"Suga-san," Tanaka called out, breaking the conversation between their two setters. "Daichi says he's gonna treat us to meat buns!"

"One thing though, Kageyama." The quartet approached the two and heard the last bit of the conversation between Kageyama and Suga. "Aoba Johsai is the high school most players from Kitagawa First go to, isn't it?"

Kageyama nodded his head, "Yeah, I think so."

"I just thought it might make things hard for you."

The younger setter glanced down for a moment but answered him confidently, "Maybe, if we were on the same team, but if they're my opponents, I'll fight them with everything I've got."

"I see." Suga smiled, seeing the passion in Kageyama's words. He certainly seems to have changed since middle school, which is a very good thing for them. "You're right."

"Thank you."

Tanaka jumped in between the two of them and looked frantic, "But are you sure about this, Suga? I... I kind of have trouble accepting it!"

"Yeah! You're our official setter!" Endo joined in with the second-year and grabbed Suga's shoulders. He pointed dramatically at Kageyama, "Not this gloomy king!"

Kageyama bristled and shouted at his senpai, "What did you say!"

"Of course, I don't like it," Suga said, breaking in between the two and pushed Endo's hands off of him, "but... we gotta show those guys that Kageyama has changed a lot since middle school."

Daichi then came out of the convenience store with two large bags filled with meat buns. As a good captain, he had decided to buy the team a treat after practice. Was it most of his money for the week? Maybe. However, the team deserved it, he thought. "Yeah." He handed off one of the bags to Shōyō who yelped happily at the sight, "We have to show them that they're up against more than just Kageyama. Right, Hinata-kun?"

They turned to find that Shōyō had already started to eat his food before them. Sakura munched on one as well next to him, though barely acknowledged them as she enjoyed her food. "Y-Yesh, shir!" Shōyō shouted while he stuffed his face full of meat buns.

Tanaka and Kageyama then ran at him and grabbed the poor boy by his shirt to raise him into the air. Tanaka shouted, "Why are you eating before the rest of us?"

"Don't screw around!" Kageyama yelled.

The convenience store clerk, a twenty-something-year-old man with died blonde hair and a cigarette hanging from his lips, then came out of the store and raged, "Hey, Volleyball Club! No trouble in front of my store!"

"Sorry, sir." Tanaka and Kageyama apologized.

Sakura watched the scene as she passed the bag of meat buns to Suga. "Are they always going to be like this?"

The third-year shook his head fondly, "most likely."

Sakura nodded her head, obviously already accepting this as a fact. This team was definitely going to be a handful. She placed her meat bun in her mouth and pull up her camera from around her neck to take a look at it. _I'm going to have to sort through these later,_ she thought, _I'll have to do it after my homework, we got assigned a lot today._

"Wow, these are some pretty good pictures, Hinata-chan." Sakura was startled slightly at the sound of Daichi's voice right next to her. Apparently, as she was looking through the pictures that she had taken, Daichi had approached her and peeked over her shoulders at her camera.

She flushed slightly at the attention but made sure to keep as much redness off of her face. At most, only the tips of her ears were a deep red in embarrassment. She cleared her throat and duct her head slightly, "Oh, thanks, Daichi-senpai." She rubbed the back of her neck, "They're only practice shots, I guess."

"Are you going to enter them into the gallery?" The captain asked while the team headed into the convenience store to hang around for a bit.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders sheepishly and glanced away from him timidly, "I'm not sure. I still don't know much about it, or even what to enter into it."

Daichi smiled encouragingly and patted her on the back, "Well, any of your pictures will look good in the gallery, I think."

"Thanks," Sakura mumbled out still slightly embarrassed.

Seeing the usually stoic(and sometimes scary) Sakura even a little bit embarrassed drew a few prying eyes, wanting to see what she and the captain were talking about. Tanaka also came over to look at over her shoulder, "Whoa, not only are you cute, but you also take amazing pictures!" He shouted, "Hinata-chan is amazing!"

Sakura scowled and pushed him away from her which caused him to fall to the ground, "back up."

Endo lumbered over to them slowly. He bent down slightly to be to look at the girl with a pout. Something seemed to bother him and whatever it was, Sakura didn't want to know. Endo was such a strange guy and it may or may not have scared her just a bit. He softly asked her, "You let them call you 'Hinata-chan'?"

"Not really," Sakura answered while backing up from the boy who started to invade her personal space. She really should have just headed home without Shōyō to avoid hanging around these boys. Sakura had more important things to do, like homework.

Endo pouted with his bottom lip jutted outward as he walked towards her forcing her to back away, "Why can't I?"

"Because I tolerate him," Sakura said blandly pointing to the captain and then at the shaved-headed boy, "Tanaka is on thin ice." She added with annoyance tainting her words like it explained everything. Which it kind of did. Tanaka was slowly but surely proving to be a pain, just as much as Endo. The third-year just unnerved her a bit more. Endo got on her nerves, what else was there to say? While Tanaka was loud and in her face sometimes, Endo could be the same and more. Like he had alternative motives for some of the things he did. What those alternative motives are was unknown to Sakura.

Honestly, she didn't really care whether or not someone used -chan or -san to address her. It doesn't bother her all that much. She found such simple honorifics were kind of stupid. However, for someone as annoying as Tanaka or Endo, she didn't want to be referred to in such a familiar way. She didn't want anyone to think that she was actually close friends with those two morons.

"Does that mean you don't tolerate me?" Endo asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him as she could see the shine of something else in his irises. He was thinking of something, there was more to this than simply her tolerating him like this. Why was he so butthurt over this? "Yes."

"Wah!" Endo started to cry and grabbed the small girl into a tight hug. Fat tears streamed down his cheeks as he started to sob loudly, " you're so mean, Hinata-chan!"

Sakura bristled and tried to push him away from her personal space harshly, "Were you not listening, you half-wit! Stop being so familiar! I'm Hinata-san to you, boke!" She fought against him harder, "Let go!"

It wasn't much use considering Endo just ended up picking Sakura off of the ground and swinging her around while crying. She looked like a ragdoll in his hold. Well, she was about as tall as a doll, in all honesty, she didn't have much strength either so she was at his mercy. Endo was then chopped on the back of the head by Suga who glared at the blond. He dropped the small girl to turn to his fellow third-year and whined like a child. "Suga! That hurt!"

"Don't attack Hinata-chan like that!" He shouted at him in a reprimanding tone. Honestly, he was just filling the role of the team mom more and more. He grabbed Sakura as well and made sure to steer her away from Endo. As much as Suga would love to see Endo pummeled into the ground by the feisty girl, they had a game coming up, and they needed everyone to be game ready. Though next time, he'd be more than glad to let Sakura at Endo for his behavior.

Though his commands didn't seem to get through to the drama queen, "even Suga can call her 'Hinata-chan'! Wah!"

* * *

The next morning was somewhat similar to all of the previous ones. Shōyō woke Sakura up at an ungodly hour of the morning, forced her to get breakfast, and then ushered her to get on their bikes to ride to school. Sakura huffed and puffed as they biked along the road, she cursed herself for choosing to go to Karasuno with Shōyō. She could have picked a school that was far closer and within walking distance. But no! She had to follow Shōyō to a school over thirty minutes away because she couldn't be without her brother. How pathetic.

Once they got to the school they quickly made their way to where they usually put the bikes for the day. Shōyō was more than happy to have another day at practice. This was mainly because they'd have to discuss more about the upcoming practice match. There just seemed to be only one problem.

"Ne, but imouto-!"

Sakura cut off Shōyō as they finished up putting their bikes away, "I said I'm not going to your practice today."

"Why!?" Shōyō shouted and looked to be on the verge of tears. His twin not coming to his practice!? That's never happened before! What was happening?!

"First of all," she started to explain, "there's no point in me going since I am not actually apart of the club."

"But-"

She continued to speak as if he didn't just try to interrupt her, "And I'm meeting up with Shimada, I have to ask her about the gallery that's in a little bit."

Her twin perked up, though he was obviously downtrodden to see that Sakura was adamant about not coming with him to practice. "Oh, yeah! I heard a few people talking about it." He tapped his hand on his chin, "I guess it isn't that popular except with a few clubs."

Sakura shrugged her shoulders and started to walk away, "Either way, I think I wanna enter a picture into it."

"You should!" Shōyō cheered and bounced in place, it seemed like he radiated as brightly as the sun. He surely lived up to their surname. "It'll be really cool to see your pictures on display in a real gallery thing."

The shorter twin scratched her cheek bashfully. "Yeah... I guess." The neverending enthusiasm that her brother had about everything was both annoying at times and amazing. He had such positivity in him while she was filled with basically only negativity. Opposites they are. You probably wouldn't find another pair of twins who were as different as the Hinata twins.

"See you later then!" Shōyō shouted before parting ways with his twin and headed to the gym while Sakura went off to find the photography president. They would meet up after his afternoon practice and her club activities. The pair of twins weren't in the same class at Karasuno. Actually, they never really have been. That was thanks to Sakura's talent when it came to academics. She would never really like to admit it out loud, in fear of sounding conceited, but she found school to be easy. Which was most likely why she was placed in class five this year. Studying came easy to her, something that she liked to point out to Shōyō every once in a while. Sure, Shōyō was far more athletic than Sakura, but she had her academics to make up for it.

Though that wasn't something to think about right now. The orange-haired girl found that it took a little bit to actually find the older girl. Sakura had searched the club room and found nothing, then she checked her senpai's class and once again didn't find her. Shimada was certainly far more elusive than Sakura had thought. After a fifteen-minute walk around the school grounds, Sakura magically came upon Shimada outside in the courtyard.

She was talking quite animatedly with some other students. Whatever it was the brown-haired third-year girl was quite passionate about it. Sakura debated for a moment whether or not it would be a good idea to approach her now, but didn't have much of a choice.

Shimada caught sight of Sakura a little ways away and seemed to vibrate in place. Before Sakura could even attempt to run off, once the older girl caught her in her sights there was no way Sakura would escape.

"Ah!" The president bounded over to Sakura and basically ditched whoever she was talking to, "If it isn't our best photographer ever!"

Sakura stared at her with pinkness starting to crawl up her cheekbones. "I'm not that good senpai..."

Shimada chuckled loudly, "No need to be bashful Hinata! You're very skilled."

"Right," the younger girl said trying to pull the conversation in the right direction. "Well, I wanted to ask about the gallery coming up."

Shimada jumped at that as stars entered her eyes. It was quite obvious that she was passionate about this. Sakura had seen this look before. It was the same look that Shōyō had whenever he talked about volleyball. Just another person who had something that they valued to an unbearable amount. Though, as Sakura thought about it, isn't it a good idea to be obsessively passionate about something than have nothing at all. "Yes, yes. I'm more than happy to explain anything." Shimada drew Sakura from her thoughts, "We have a gallery nearly once a month, twice if we feel like it. It's a time for photographers and artists to show off their skills for a few days." Shimada scratched the back of her neck and chuckled sheepishly, "I'll be honest, it's not been as popular as it used to be, but it's still fun!"

Sakura took in that explanation and tapped her chin in thought, "What sort of pictures should I enter in the gallery?"

"Well, anything really." Shimada started, "Usually, we pick a theme for galleries, depending on the month. Like in August it's a sort of fall theme fall, October is usually scary things or something, December is Christmas and so on."

"Interesting," Sakura clicked her tongue in thought. It made sense, she supposed. Honestly, even if Sakura has been a bit of a photographer for some time now, she had never really been to a gallery or anything. So this was new to her.

"Yeah, the gallery that we're having next week is all about new starts!"

Sakura tilted her head with a brow arched, "What does that mean?"

"Well, the new school year started up, I thought that choosing something like new start, new inspiration, something that just means rebirth would be a good gallery theme, don't you think!"

It seemed like a good topic, Sakura thought. She understood it considering it was the start of the new school year, and as she kept reminding herself, high school was all about reinventing yourself. "I guess."

"We'll talk more about it at the next club meeting," Shimada said with a wave of her hand, "that way everyone knows what we'll be doing!"

"Hai."

The day dragged on like normal after that. Sakura took notes, did her classwork, and idly spent her time with her peers. While she had no other choice but to socialize with these other first-years, Sakura didn't make friends with them. She never really had the ability to make friends, that was Shōyō's thing. He was the one who had the skill to talk with people, to make friendships. Of course, Sakura had the ability to talk to other people, but she didn't have the skill to make lasting relationships. It was sad to think about it.

Sakura didn't really have anyone besides her family. In middle school, she had Shōyō's friends to hang around with, but nobody to really call her own friend. It was always Shōyō's friends, Shōyō's hobbies, Shōyō's life. There was never anything for just Sakura. She never minded, why would she? All she's ever had was Shōyō, so why would she want to leave what she knew? Sakura didn't like uncomfortable situations, and leaving Shōyō was equivalent to leaving her comfort zone. Leaving his side meant abandoning what she knew, leaving her twin meant having to make new connections, new friends. As much as she liked the idea of creating her own friends or interests, she was anxious about it. After all, she's spent the passed fourteen-years with Shōyō and she doesn't know what she would do if she distanced herself from him now.

Though that wasn't important at the moment. She'd rather focus on the present and not her own existential crisis. Sakura was currently making her way towards the Boy's Volleyball Clun room at a lazy pace with her hands stuffed deeply into her pockets. She didn't want to think about how socially inept she was. All she wanted right now was her brother. Maybe then her heart would stop hurting so much or her blood would stop burning in terror. Just being with her would reassure her that everything was fine because he was still there.

"Ah, Hinata-chan." Sakura turned at the call of her name and found that Yamaguchi and Tsukishima were heading the same way she was. Most likely heading to the volleyball club room like her. It was Yamaguchi who had called out to her, well, it certainly wouldn't be Tsukishima to greet her, "Good afternoon."

"Pipsqueak." Tsukishima simply said with a smirk aimed down at her. Ah, there was that snide expression on his face that Sakura did not miss in the slightest.

"Hello, Yamaguchi-kun." She nodded her head in greeting the taller boy kindly before setting her eyes on the one next to him. Her eyes narrowed a fraction, as she turned from them and continued to walk, "Bitchy, blond giant."

Tsukishima's smirk dampened slightly at her name-calling. He sneered just a little bit but made sure to keep his tone indifferent, "Hm, someone seems bothered, eh? Paparazzi-chan?"

Sakura sighed softly and didn't even give him the satisfaction of looking back at him. She just continued to walk off with them trailing behind her to the club room. "I'm not bothered by anything, just annoyed that I had to run into you." She liked hearing the scoff that she got from him in response.

"Are you going to come with us to the practice match?" Yamaguchi asked.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders non-committedly, "I'm not sure."

"It would be nice if you did, I think..." Yamaguchi said softly and glanced away shyly. Sakura took a quick peek at him and found that he was blushing just a little bit, it made him look cute. There was no way she could deny that.

She tilted her head, "Really?"

"We don't need another shrimp hanging around the gym at the match." Tsukishima cut in with his differing opinion. He didn't like the fact that Yamaguchi had decided to be so nice to her. Though his friend was quite the softy when it came down to it. A good reason why they were probably good friends since they were somewhat opposites of each other and balanced each other out. Still, that didn't help the fact that Tsukishima liked seeing Yamaguchi warming up to the annoying girl. This could only mean that she would end up being around him more if she and Yamaguchi became good enough friends. Still, he doubted that Sakura would actually try to be friends with him, she was far too attached to her brother to actually make friends. He didn't need anyone to tell him that as it was quite obvious.

"And I don't wanna be around a snide asshole like you, but we don't get what we want, do we?" She said calmly, though they could tell that she was being snarky with him. Sakura paused for a moment and pursed her lips in thought, "I think it would be cool to see all of you play though."

Yamaguchi shook his head in depression, "It's not like I'm going to do much, I'm nothing but a benchwarmer." All of the other first-years were special in some way. Kageyama is a genius setter, Hinata-kun could jump super high, and Tsukishima was extremely tall. Yet Yamaguchi didn't have anything special about him that the team could utilize.

"Hm?" Sakura hummed before waving her hand in dismissal, "You'll probably do fine, Yamaguchi-kun. Even if you aren't on the starting line up." She chuckled slightly, hoping that what she was saying was lifting his spirits. After all, she hated when people got sad or anything of the like. "If anything, Shōyō will most likely do the worst."

Yamaguchi eyed her in surprise, "Really?" Shouldn't she have more faith in her brother's volleyball abilities?

"He gets extremely nervous easily, especially right before a match." She explained as she remembered what it was like at his game in middle school, "I have no doubt he'll crack under all the pressure."

Tsukishima clicked his tongue, "Not a very good player then, is he?"

"My brother has skill, I know you can't deny that." Sakura stared with half-lidded eyes looking up at Tsukishima through her orange bangs. He stared right back with his golden eyes and neither of them seemed as though they were going to let up their staring contest. "He just doesn't have the nerve that comes with playing matches, at least not yet. Once he gets over it, he'll be fine."

"Tch." Tuskishima finally looked away from her and used his long legs to walk ahead of her. Sakura didn't mind and just let him lead the way. _Let him sulk_ , she thought, _he's beyond annoying_. The trio made it to the building that housed the many club rooms and walked up the stairs to the Volleyball Club. They just rounded the corner when another orange-haired teen ran into Tsukishima. "Oh, I'm sorry." The giant apologized, though it was obvious that he was not since at all, "You're so small, I didn't see you down there."

Sakura was quite sure that he had bumped into Shōyō on purpose but didn't say anything about it. If anything she was more worried about why her twin was holding his stomach as if in pain and why his eyes looked sunken into his skull.

"Oh, right..." Shōyō said hollowly before waddling off slowly repeating the same phrase over and over. The pressure was definitely getting to him already, and the game was tomorrow. "I must not goof up. I must not goof up. I must not goof up... I must not goof up." The other first-years watched him go before Sakura sighed heavily and followed after him.

She finally stepped down the last step to approach her brother who looked as though he was going to puke at any second. "Hm, you alright there, nii-san?"

"I can't goof up, Sakura..." He turned to her with his face a dark blue and his stomach rumbling.

Oh, boy. The pressure was getting to him at a fast rate. She may have only really seen him get this anxious at the one game in middle school, but she already knew to stay a good few feet from him to make sure he didn't accidentally throw up on her. She pinched the bridge of her nose, "Geez."

"Hinata!" They heard Tanaka and looked up to the club room to see their upperclassmen had run out in only his underwear. "You're wearing my jersey pants!"

Shōyō looked down to see that he was in fact right, as the pants he was wearing were far too big. He was far too distracted to notice he too his senpai's pants by accident. At least he didn't walk out wearing his jacket as pants as he did in the club room. That would have been even more embarrassing!

"What are you doing, Tanaka, you pervert?" A girl from the tennis club shouted in disgust. She had the unfortunate luck of being just outside the club room when he came barrelling out. "What are you, stupid? You creep!"

Tanaka deflated at her words and slowly lumbered back into the room to wait for Shōyō to come back. He was wounded, how could a girl think that of him? Sakura hummed with her nose scrunched up in displeasure, "What a disturbing sight." They were able to hear Endo's obnoxious laughter from within the club room as he made fun of Tanaka. _Yeah,_ Sakura thought to herself, _these guys are definitely something else._

* * *

Nighttime had finally fallen on the Miyagi and now the Hinata family were getting ready to sleep. Sakura had already finished up all her work for the night and her nightly studying to settle in her bed. All comfy and cozy under her blankets, sleep was about a millisecond away from taking her into unconsciousness. Sleep was the best part of her day, the one thing that she really looked forward to at the end of the day. Though her peace was broken by her idiotic brother.

"I can't sleep!" Shōyō suddenly shouted and started to toss in turn in his bed, "I can't sleep! I can't sleep! I can't sleep!"

The youngest Hinata, the cute and small Natsu, barged into her older siblings' shared room with annoyance. "Shōyō be quiet!"

Now half on his bed and half on the floor, Shōyō had the decency to look a little bit sheepish up at his baby sister. "S-sorry..."

"Honestly," Sakura scowled at her twin from under her blankets. Shōyō shivered at the sight of his angered sister and tried to hide in his bed. An angry Sakura wasn't a good Sakura. "Try to get some sleep. You'll have no energy for tomorrow's game if you don't!"

"Right!" He exclaimed and buried himself into his bed to appease Sakura. After all, he wouldn't want to anger her anymore. Sakura was one scary girl when provoked. Something that Shōyō was quite familiar with.

Sakura sighed through her nose and turned over in bed. She understood Shōyō's inability to go to sleep. He was excited and nervous about tomorrow. His first real high school game was going to take place tomorrow. Not only that but it was against Aoba Johsai, quite a powerhouse of a school. So she understood why he was nervous, why he couldn't sleep. However, he needed to! Not only for his sake but for hers as well. If he was going to be like this before all of his games, she should just move into Natsu's room. At least then she would know that she would get to sleep peacefully every night.

* * *

Sakura yawned loudly as she lined up next to her brother and the rest of the volleyball team. She found out that she technically was allowed to go with the team to just about any excursion that they had, as long as it didn't interfere with any important Photography Club business. So it was good news, Sakura could join Shōyō just about anywhere he goes with the team. All she had to do was take some pretty good pictures of their game and she was free to do what she liked. Plus, she had to be there for Shōyō! What kind of a sister would she be if she wasn't there to support her brother at his first game against a team like Aoba Josai, even if it was just a practice match.

"Line up!" Daichi called out.

Everyone then bowed to Takeda, who had gotten them a small bus to ride to Seijoh. "Thank you for your help!"

"Okay," He smiled brightly and ushed everyone over. The group all boarded the bus with their gear and were rearing to go. Each of them was at least a little bit excited about the match. There was even a chance Tsukishima was excited. Though it would be pretty hard to decipher that, the tsundere bastard was hard to read.

Sakura's brown eyes swept over the seats on the bus and found that there were only two seats left open. One was in the back, right next to her brother while the other was towards the front next to Kageyama. The boy himself looked to be concentrating on his thoughts quite hard. Something troubling was on his mind, and the expression on his face would scare just about anyone. Not, Sakura though. So seeing it as her only choice, she plopped herself down in the seat next to him.

Kageyama was broken out of his thoughts when the girl sat next to him. His features were twisted into a nasty scowl as he glared at Sakura, "Shouldn't you be sitting with your brother?"

"No." Sakura simply answered and pulled out her camera to check it over. She had made sure to keep her camera charged and with an extra lens.

"Why are you sitting here?" He growled out hoping that she would take the hint and move seats.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "It was the only open seat."

"There's one next to Hinata-kun."

"And?" She asked and glowered lightly at him for the interrogation, "there's no way I'm sitting next to him."

"Why?" Kageyama asked harshly. Well, he wouldn't want to sit next to Shōyō either. That idiot would probably just bother him the entire ride there. Though he would have thought that the Hinata twins would want to be beside each other as much as they could.

"What?" Tanaka suddenly screamed from the back of the bus as they heard Shōyō heaving next to him. When they realized what had happened, it was certainly building up their confidence in their decoy. "Stop the bus!"

Now everyone was realizing just how badly Shōyō was cracking under the pressure. He was sick because of the nerves! This was even worse than they thought! Sakura sighed heavily through her nose and clicked her tongue, "That's why."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm laying it on thick with what Sakura's crisis is. I mean, it's for the plot and all, but I feel like I'm being a tad bit too forceful with it. Oh, well, I just hope I'm getting my point across about her. I'm definitely writing these characters to be more complex than any of the other fanfictions that I've written. I'm pretty sure that's just me realizing how badly I use to write my ocs and actually fixing that. Of course, Sakura's conflict is trying to become her own person, and not just known as Shōyō's twin sister. Endo's will be revealed a little later, as there isn't much of a chance to just outrightly say what it is just yet. I've tried to put little hints, if you can call them that, in these chapters about him. Plus I've still got to flesh him out as a character and show you guys his backstory! You guys know Sakura's already, but Endo's is completely different! Anyway, let me know what you thought of this! Until the next chapter, my friends!


	6. An Interesting Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hm. I finally got this chapter done. It took me a bit, but I actually did it. I've been a bit swamped with school stuff considering it ws midterms and now we have to start picking out classes for next semester, so I'm just posting things whenever I get them finished now. Enjoy!

**"I'M SORRY!" SHŌYŌ** **EXCLAIMED AT HIS SENPAI** as he bowed at a ninety-degree angle towards the older teen. "Tanaka, I'm sorry!"

The shaved-headed boy shook his head while tying up the plastic bag with his soiled pants. After what had happened on the bus, Tanaka had to change into his shorts. Though after Shōyō throwing up on his upperclassmen, just about everyone was worried about the ball of sunshine. Who knew how he was doing after this. The upperclassman waved his hand dismissively, "I told you it's fine. What about you? Are you okay?"

Shōyō nodded his head vigorously, causing the others to think that he was going to make himself sick again. "Yes, I got some rest and I feel fine now that I'm off the bus."

"Great! Good to hear! The outcome of today's game depends on how well you operate!" Tanaka exclaimed which caused the younger boy to suddenly freeze up. "I want you to let me hit the ball freely just like in the three-on-three."

"Tanaka," Suga called out in an urgent whisper as he climbed off the bus, "Don't pressure him."

"What's that you say?"

"I-I'll do my best!" Shoyo stuttered out shakily as he broke out in a sweat. Once again his stomach rumbled unhappily which caused him to clutch it as he started to waddle away, "I've gotta go to the washroom!"

"So it's coming out both ends now?" Tanaka laughed, not seeing the problem like a clueless idiot, "You're a busy guy!"

Kageyama glowered as he watched the queasy boy walk away. "He's doing it again? That's pathetic!" He rolled up his sleeves and moved to march ofter him, "He needs a good, motivational whack."

"Hey, what are you saying?" Suga grabbed him before he could get too far, "You know he's not the type that responds to that stuff!"

Endo eyed Kageyama with a raised eyebrow and leaned over towards Daichi and whispered not so subtly, "He is such a violent little boy."

"You never know unless you try," Kageyama insisted on his violent tactics.

Suga continued to try and hold the boy back but it was turning out to be a bit of trouble. How was this kid stronger than him? "Tanaka, hold this simpleton back!" 

"Yessir!"

"Just one whack!" Kageyama continued to fight against them.

Sakura then stepped off of the bus with half-lidded eyes as she heard the threat to her brother. The orange-headed girl is usually impassive on certain things, but when it comes to physical threats upon her family, she tends to become less than friendly. Especially when they come from people who doesn't like all that much. She pinpointed Kageyama as he struggled in Tanaka's arms, though he paused once he could feel the cold stare on the back of his head. Really, Sakura was the only one who had a glare that could rival that of Kageyama's. If anyone had to say, they might say that Sakura was the female Kageyama, but looked exactly like Hinata, it was unsettling. 

"Please restrain yourself from beating up my brother." She clicked her tongue and casually strolled over to where Kiyoko was talking with Takeda. "Or you'll have to deal with me." Her dark brown eyes glinted in the light as she passed by him, "Got it, king?" Kageyama shivered at the unamused stare that she was pointing at him. She just continued to walk away with a satisfied feeling, seeing that she intimidated him at least a bit. Kageyama let out a sigh of relief once she was far enough away. Who would have thought that _the_ Kageyama Tobio would be rattled by a girl far smaller than him.

Endo walked up to Kageyama as the boys still watched the intimidating girl walk-off lazily. He swung an arm around the frozen first-year with pursed lips. His blue eyes were alight with both amusement and fear, "Christ, Hinata-chan is one scary girl."

* * *

Outside of the gym, while heading to their practice for the day, two players of the Aoba Johsai Boy's Volleyball Club spoke idly with each other. One of them was Kindaichi Yotaro, a first-year and former student of Kitagawa First. Yes, he was on the same volleyball team as Kageyama, an unfortunate happenstance, he would say. The other boy was Yahaba Shigeru, a light brown-haired second year on the team. The two were currently talking about their opponents for their next practice match. Karasuno High; the flightless crows. A school that used to be extremely good, however, fell off a while ago and no longer was a powerhouse like they might have been. Yahaba continued on their discussion about the other high school, "All I know about them now is that they have some super hot babe for a team manager."

"They have a girl?" The first-year asked in surprise.

"Yeah, she's got this sexy vibe about her..." Yahaba said nodding his head happily. It was always fun to have a manager, especially one who was good looking, sadly Seijoh didn't have one. Another thought then struck him, "Oh yeah, they've got some cocky foreigner on the team and another one of their team members looks like a thug. He's got a shaved head, mean eyes, and he looks kind of dumb."

Hearing the end of the conversation, said stupid, bald-headed delinquent peered around the corner. "Hmm?"

The two Aoba Johsai jumped at his appearance. They certainly had some bad timing. Yahaba cleared his throat, "Um, hello."

"Don't mock my team, bro," Tanaka told them as he, Tsukishima, Kageyama, Endo, and Yamaguchi stared at them as intimidatingly as they could. Well, most of the boys were doing a good enough job, Yamaguchi still looked as cute as ever. He really couldn't intimidate many people, maybe children if he really tried. "We'll tear you apart..."

It almost sounded like there was a distant caw of a crow. The two Seijoh players bristled in fear at their opponents who were doing a pretty good job at giving them a fright. This murder of crows was certainly good at scaring their opponents.

Tsukishima shook his head, "Come on, Tanaka. There's no need to talk like that." He smirked menacingly at the two as his golden eyes became half-lidded, "I mean, look at what you've done, the hotshots from Aoba Johsai are practically shaking in their shoes."

"You idiots think we're afraid of you?" Kindaichi shouted at them in offense. After all, why would a school like Aoba Johsai High be scared by a flightless school like Karasuno? They were the players who were on the powerhouse team! So who did these guys think they were to act so intimidating.

"Oh yeah, good thinking," Tanaka laughed hauntingly ignoring Kindaichi as if he didn't talk at all, "it'll hurt worse when we kick your ass on the courts instead."

The other blond then tilted his head and looked down at the other boys, "Besides, they don't _have_ to be scared of us." Endo pompously said with a wide cheeky smile. His electric blue eyes stared down at the two players with a steely glare. The blond may not have been able to be as scary as Tanaka with his appearance alone, however, he did his best. If anything, Endo looked insane with that cold look in his eyes and smile that left a lot to be desired. His eyes gleamed in crazy arrogance, "all you have to do is recognize greatness."

"Hey, knock it off!" Daichi screamed as he came zooming around the corner, enraged by his team's behavior. "I cannot take you two anywhere!" He grabbed Tanaka and Endo's heads and forced both of them onto a deep bow. "Please, excuse them."

"Uh, it's fine," Yahaba said in confusion at the display.

Daichi scowled at the two of his teammates who pouted, "Don't make that face at me."

Another person then came around the corner lazily with a hand shoved deep into her pocket. The camera around her neck swayed from side to side as she ran her other hand through her messy orange hair. She yawned loudly and turned to the group of boys gathered around each other. It was an interesting sight to walk in on, she thought. It seemed like her team was going to end up making a fuss, as usual. All they'd do is embarrass themselves. She rolled her eyes and looked around them to see a slightly familiar face. It was that kid who she had run into during Shōyō's first volleyball game. She tilted her head and spoke in a bland voice, "Oh, look, it's onion-head." Those around her snickered at her words, while said onion-head blanched at her. Even his own teammate couldn't help but snicker at her words, which earned him a sharp look from Kindaichi.

"Hinata-chan!" Daichi shouted loudly, like a father scolding a young child. Why were the underclassmen such a pain to handle!? Honestly, Daichi felt like he was in charge of a bunch of five-year-olds.

She just shrugged her shoulders, indifferent, "What? It's not like I know his name."

"Let's go, now!" He commanded her, in his father-like voice.

Sakura waved her hand dismissively and started to walk off to the gym without looking back at the group, "Hai."

The group of crows started to walk away from their opponents to head into the gym. The last thing they needed was to cause a big scene just before their practice match. Kageyama was doing his best to ignore his former teammate, but Kindaichi wasn't going to let him go so soon. "Long time no see, King." He sneered, "I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of dictatorship you're running."

The setter was quiet for a moment before nodding his head, "Yeah." Kindachi stared in shock as Kageyama walked off with the rest of his team. His dismissal and nonconfrontational attitude earned himself a slap on the back from Tanaka and Suga. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Learning self-control I see, eh Kageyama." Endo marveled while wiping away a fake tear, as if he was a proud father, "I'm so proud!" His dramatics earned himself a shove from Kageyama who shouted at him for being so weird. Though what else did he expect from the drama queen. 

Sakura watched them with a raised eyebrow as she glanced at the onion-head out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't imagine what it was like to see how much Kageyama has changed since middle school. Even just watching that one match, she knew how much of a jerk Kageyama probably was. Yet now, he was a bit less controlling on the court. It was a good thing for them, but a confusing one for Kindaichi. She figured that this match was going to be interesting to watch.

* * *

The Karasuno Crows entered the large gym to find that the Aoba Johsai team was already warming up. It was far larger than their own gym, which certainly wasn't overwhelming in the slightest. At least not for most of the team...

"I-It's huge!" Shōyō called out in shaky amazement, "The gym is huge, the players are huge..."

He was right. Not only was the gym much larger than the one at Karasuno, but the players were also quite tall. Karasuno had their fair share of tall players(Tuskishima for example) but when compared to Shōyō, they were much taller overall. Sakura was actually mildly impressed with the team and how large they were. This definitely looked like a powerhouse school with an elite team. Why didn't Shōyō go to a school like this? He would definitely go far on a team with skills like this. Though then she remembered that he chose Karasuno based on the fact that his idol attended there. Oh, well, it's not like she would have liked coming to a school like this anyway.

"Greet!" Daichi called out as the entire team bowed to the Aoba Johsai players, "Thank you for the game!"

"Thank you for the game!" The other school reciprocated the greeting before going back to their warm-ups.

"Every Aoba Johsai player has above-average defensive and offensive skills." The Karasuno captain commented as they watched the other boys practice their spikes, receives, and serves with each other. "Their guys can compete for ace no matter where they go."

Suga nodded his head next to him, "They're also famous for their power blocking."

Endo tilted his head as he observed all of their opponents. He pursed his lips just a little bit as he watched Aoba Johsai. He knew about this school and their reputation as one of the best volleyball teams out there, who didn't? He figured that it was going to be an uphill battle in this practice match, especially since they were up against the man himself, Oikawa Tooru. Though as he looked around, he didn't see the annoyingly handsome guy anywhere. That certainly made the blond happy. Maybe they did have a chance! Endo placed his hands on his hips and cheekily smiled, "They're not bad looking either, eh?"

Suga elbowed him in the stomach lightly, "calm down, Endo, we don't need a repeat of our first year, do we?"

The near scary look on his face caused the dramatic boy to shake his head reluctantly. "No, I guess not," he huffed at Suga ruining his fun, "but what's wrong with just looking?!"

"What's wrong with both of you?" Tanaka then cut into the third-years banter loudly, "We have Hinata-kun to shake things up! Right?" He didn't even seem to register the fact that the first-year was blue in the face and shaking like a leaf. Sakura just stood beside her twin with a blank expression and watched the interaction with a critical eye. In her mind, she was counting down the seconds before Shōyō bolted for the bathroom again. "I already know how much you suck, so I'll be there to cover you."

At the mention of having someone there for him, Shōyō lightened up slightly. Okay, so maybe Tanaka can be a good upperclassman sometimes. Even Suga, Daichi, and Endo were surprised by his words, "Oh!"

"But remember you're all alone when you serve. Don't fumble it!" And Tanaka just ruined it. Just about everyone blanched at him and his possible attempt of a joke. He should really work on reading the room better. Maybe then he would have noticed Shōyō's sickly appearance. Tanaka just laughed, "Just kidding! Fumbling a serve is no big deal! Don't let it get to you and just keep smashing that sucker--" He looked down at where Shōyō was only to find him missing, "Huh? Where'd Hinata-kun go?"

Yamaguchi was the one to explain, "To the washroom."

"Not again!"

Yamaguchi looked between everyone with a worried expression, "Should we go after him?"

Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed heavily. She knew that today was going to be a bit chaotic, but this was a little too much. Shōyō could get nervous extremely easily, but she could have thought that he would have been able to control himself at least a little bit. She grabbed the back of the annoying second-year's jacket and started to drag him away. It was a bit of a struggle since she wasn't that strong, but it worked nonetheless. "Tanaka, let's go." 

"Why do I have to come with!?" He whined but still allowed himself to be dragged by the small girl. After all, it wasn't common for Sakura to be physically close to him, at least voluntarily. She hated it when he tried to hug her or something, so he'd take what he can get!

Sakura's sharp eyes turned to Tanaka, which caused him to shiver, "You're the reason he freaked out, so let's go."

"Yes, ma'am!" Tanaka clamed up real fast as he scurried off to find their ball of sunshine with Sakura trailing behind him.

The teens made their way through the halls looking for the nearest bathroom where Shōyō most likely was. Eventually, they found it, though they also found Shōyō talking with a few Aoba Johsai team members. It was the boy with an onion-shaped head who was speaking, "He's a self-serving king." Sakura didn't dout that he was referring to Kageyama. She could figure out from the venom on his tongue that the boy hated Kageyama in middle school. "He's supposed to be a setter, but he can't set up a ball for the spiker at all. What he wants is a mindless pawn who does whatever he wants. Anyone he can't use for his own victory goes in the trash."

Tanaka then chuckled, trying to act cool, as he leaned against the adjacent wall with Sakura by his side, eyeing them boredly. The other boys jumped at their appearance as Tanaka started to speak to them, "You'll have to play to find out if Kageyama has changed or not since middle school, Onion-top."

"Huh?" Onion-head exclaimed in confusion.

The second-year just turned to Shōyō, "Right, Hinata-kun?"

From her spot beside Tanaka, Sakura could see the cogs turning in her brother's mind. She may not have heard everything that they had talked about, but she got the gist of it. Now, she could tell that Shōyō was going to stress over Kageyama discarding him when he wasn't playing well. Sakura didn't have much faith in Kageyama to begin with, however, from the practices that she's seen with them she believed that Kageyama has changed a bit. He may still be a jerk, but Sakura could tell that he was willing to work with anyone if it meant winning. Though her brother wasn't smart enough to see it. Shōyō bristled before making a beeline back into the bathroom, "My stomach is killing me!"

Seeing the panic in Shōyō, Kindaichi snarked out, "Okay, we're looking forward to it."

Sakura watched her brother bolt back into the bathroom. She clicked her tongue and crossed her arms over her chest, "So pathetic, doesn't have the nerve to play a proper game." He would definitely need to get over his nerves and soon. If he wanted to reach his goal of being like the Tiny Giant and get to Nationals then he would have to build up his nerves to play in a game. He couldn't be getting sick before every single game he has!

Kindaichi looked down at the girl he had briefly interacted with and tilted his head, "He's your brother, right?"

The short girl turned to gaze up at him lazily and smiled sarcastically. What a stupid question. "No, we just happened to look exactly alike," Sakura rolled her eyes at his stupidity, "of _course_ , he's my brother, Onion-head."

"That's not my name!" Kindaichi exclaimed at the girl who was slowly getting on his nerves. The last time that he had seen her in middle school, he was slightly scared of her. It was a brief interaction, but it had installed a certain fear in him that he never knew he could have. A fear of short orange-haired girls.

"I don't care." She blandly replied before turning on her heels and stalking off with her hands in her pockets. She didn't want to deal with whatever drama the onion-head was trying to trudge up. His past grudge with Kageyama might well-founded and something she could understand, but she didn't want to care about it.

* * *

The trio was now back in the gym, setting up for the practice match to begin. The boys had gotten their practice jerseys on and started up their warm-ups. There was just one thing, it was quite obvious that Shōyō was still extremely nervous from the way that he was still shaking and overreacting to just about anything said to him.

Sakura just watched him with her brows furrowed. _Get a hold of yourself Shō-nii_ , she thought to herself. Sakura brushed it off for the time being before approaching the team's beautiful manager, "Kiyoko-senpai, am I allowed to sit on the bench?"

Kiyoko turned to her and nodded her head, "For practice matches, I think so. Though for real games, only the manager is allowed on the bench and I believe that applies to photographers as well."

"Okay," The first-year said before walking towards the bench with Kiyoko. 

Though before they could get too far, Daichi approached them and stage whispered to the third-year girl. "Say! As manager, can you offer the first-years a word of inspiration?" He figured that getting some encouragement from their manager would help Shōyō with his nerves. 

However, seeing what he was trying to do, Sakura tried to interject, "I don't think that's a good idea, Daichi."

"Why not?" He turned to the younger girl as Kiyoko walked up to the nerve-stricken Shōyō.

"Hey, you." Shōyō jumped at the girl's voice and faced her. He froze as soon as Kiyoko placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm counting on you."

It took a moment, but Shōyō suddenly exploded with his face completely red in embarrassment. Sakura shook her head, that's exactly why. Her brother usually had trouble with talking to girls like Kiyoko. He always goes stupid when he's confronted with a beautiful girl. Sakura should have tried to warn them sooner, but it was too late. She sighed, "I think that might have just made it worse."

Daichi turned his hollow expression to his last hope to try and get the first-year middle blocker to calm down. "Hinata-chan, can you please try to calm him down?"

Sakura pursed her lips for a second before nodding her head, "I'll try." She walked over to her frozen brother and bonked him on the head to break him out of his stupor, which it did. While her twin rubbed his head in slight pain, Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. "Shōyō, you need to get yourself together. You won't be able to play if you worry over everything." Her eyes narrowed while glaring at her brother slightly. The annoyance was starting to get to her now, with how her brother was acting. It took quite a bit to annoy the short girl, but her brother was an exception, as most people with siblings would probably feel the same. He had gone on and on about actually getting to play and now he was going to mess it up by being so nervous! "This is what you've always wanted, right? To play on an actual team? Don't waste this chance because you were too nervous."

Shōyō jumped at his sister's cold voice and nodded his head rapidly, "I-I'll try!"

"Good," Sakura said as she relaxed slightly before ruffling his hair making it even messier, "remember to have fun too."

"Now, let's begin the practice game between Karasuno High and Aoba Johsai High!" The starting line-ups then got onto the court for each team to bow and thank each other for the game. Dawning the red jersey with the number three on it, Endo was more than happy to start up their match. It had been a while since they actually had one and against a school like Aoba Johsai will definitely be fun. Whether they won or lose, it didn't matter since it wasn't an actual match, but this will hopefully solidify them as a team and understand their playing styles. Winning isn't an objective for Endo, at least not for a practice match. His objective is to understand how the newest members play with them to improve it for an actual game. Though it would be a bonus if they won against Seijoh, even if Trashykawa wasn't playing at the moment. Endo would definitely wanna hold that over his head.

At the blow of the whistle, Sakura let out a deep breath, trying to hide the fact that she was also nervous for her twin's first practice match. There was no need for both of them to be nervous about this, she needed to be the voice of reason for it all like she always is. "This is going to be a mess."

The match started with Aoba Johsai serving to Karasuno. The serve was simple and easy to receive, nothing fancy at all, so it would be easy to return it. "I got it!" Daichi called out, more than ready to receive the ball as it came right for him. "Leave it to me!"

Though before he could properly bump the ball over to Kageyama, Shōyō jumped in front of him in a frenzy and received it instead. Kageyama raged, "You idiot! It obviously wasn't your ball!"

"I'm sorry!" Shōyō shouted out his apology as their blond third-year ran out to get the ball back into center court.

Endo called out, setting it for the second-year, "Tanaka!"

"Got it!" He shouted and jumped to spike it, only for it to be blocked and hitting Karasuno's side of the court. 1-0 for Aoba Johsai. Sakura watched with pursed lips at her brother's mistake. She could already tell that this was going to be a terrible game.

Daichi approached the shaking orange-haired boy, "Shake it off! Hinata, calm down and look around you."

"I'm sorry!" Shōyō instantly bowed as everyone realized just how badly he was cracking under the pressure.

So the game continued on, with plenty of more mistakes from Shōyō and points lost for Karasuno. He ran into his own teammates, tripped over his own feet, and even knocked over the judge's tower at one point. Kageyama had grown so frustrated with him that it took a laughing Endo to hold him back from beating up the poor tangerine. Of course, despite all of his mistakes and nerves, Sakura made sure to capture the events forever on her camera. Oh, she can't wait to show their mother just how amazingly terrible Shōyō was today! No doubt in her mind that Natsu would also find it hysterical as well.

At one point, Kageyama had finally exploded at Shōyō and got his hands on him. He shouted at him angrily, "Hey, stop being so nervous already!"

Shōyō shook in Kageyama's tight hold and tried to push him away, "One more chance! Please give me one more chance!"

"What?"

"Okay!" Daichi intervened before one or both of their first-years got hurt, "Let's take back those points, one by one!" He said confidently, like a captain should, and tried to encourage them all, "The next one serving..." He blanched now seeing Shōyō lining up to serve the ball. This didn't seem good. Such terrible timing. "Hinata, relax!"

While Shōyō had his own internal freakout over his serve, Endo leaned over to Daichi to stage whisper, "are we sure that Hinata-kun will survive this game? I have a feeling that his nerves might just kill him."

"Have some faith in him, Endo." Daichi shook his head trying to convince himself that Shōyō could do this. They knew that he was a good player, so they shouldn't doubt his skills.

The whistle then suddenly blew which freaked Shōyō out causing him to serve wrong. The volleyball had no arch to it, there was no way that it was going to get over the net. It would have just hit straight into the net... If it wasn't for Kageyama's head being in the way.

Everyone froze once that ball fell to the ground. It was silent for a moment as everyone processed the fact that Kageyama was just hit in the back of the head by Shōyō's serve. Sakura was surprised by it, and may have a bit of fear for her brother's well being at this point, but she smirked. She stared down at her camera to see that she had snapped a picture of the moment of impact. Oh, this was definitely going to become her favorite picture ever!

Laughter then broke through the silence as half of Karasuno's team couldn't help themselves. Tanaka shouted out, "Hey, is the back of your head okay?"

"Nice head shot!" Tsukishima joined in on the laughing.

Endo was nearly on the floor as he choked on his words through his laughter, "Great aim!"

"Don't make it worse!" Suga exclaimed irritated he also turned to Sakura as she let out a small snort, "you too, Hinata-chan!"

"Stop it, you guys!" Daichi reprimanded the three with his captain/fatherly voice. The victim then turned around and started to approach his attacker who backed up at each of Kageyama's steps. Daichi tried to stop him, but the setter was not listening, "Hey, Kageyama!"

Shōyō, now realizing that his life was most likely in danger, he started pleading with Kageyama, "W-w-wait! We can talk this over! Kageyama, listen! Wait!"

"Look..." Kageyama finally said after invading Shōyō's personal space.

"Yes?" Shōyō answered as he broke out into a sweat.

He bent down to get into Shōyō's face with every sentence he said, "What's making you so nervous and freaked out? Is it the tall opponents? Is it because it's your first practice game? What's more frightening than nailing me on the back of the head with a serve? Tell me."

"Nothing is more frightening," Shōyō said hollowly, most likely accepting his death at this point.

"Then you have no reason to be nervous anymore, right? You've already gone and done the most frightening thing." He then shouted out angrily and pointed at the court, "Now get back on the court, you moron!"

So maybe Kageyama wasn't going to kill him yet as he walked away from the shorter boy. "W-wait," Shōyō gasped out, "so you mean I got away with that?"

"Huh? What the heck are you talking about?"

Shōyō bristled now seeing that he had gotten away with hitting Kageyama on the back of the head with no consequences. Though hopefully, he doesn't try anything else to get himself into this much trouble again. As much as it was an entertaining sight, Sakura would much like to go home with her brother in one piece. Though now it seemed like Shōyō had gotten over the fear of upsetting Kageyama, at least a little bit.

The teams then lined up to start up the second set, since Aoba Johsai had won the first one. Though after they bowed, Shōyō was once again fearing for his life, this time from his senpai. "Hey, you," Tanaka stoically walked over to the first-year, "Hinata-kun. You..."

Shōyō instantly kneeled down at his feet, "Yes?"

"Are you thinking you gotta be as good as the other experienced players?"

"I-I have to do my job right," Shōyō stuttered out, "or I'll be swapped out. I want to play for the entire game."

"Hey, don't mess with me! I know full well how much of a klutz you are!" Shōyō froze at his harsh but honest words. "Daichi put you in the game knowing that as well."

"What?" Daichi himself asked in confusion as everyone watched Tanak yell at the boy.

Tanaka continued, "You can start worrying about being swapped out when... um... ...when you're actually swapped out!"

"What?" Shōyō asked.

"Just stop worrying so damn much!"

By the bench, Takeda watched the spectacle worriedly as he leaned over to Suga, "Shouldn't we help him?"

"Uh, no," Suga answered, already figuring out what Tanaka was trying to do, "it should be all right."

Sakura idly flicked through the few photos that she had taken already and commented to the teacher and vice-captain, "Shōyō usually learns a lesson when it's yelled at him like this." With how much of a moron her brother can be some times, she knows that what Tanaka was saying would get to Shōyō eventually. He usually needed a rough push in the right direction to get things done correctly.

"Now listen!" They were drawn back into Tanaka's speech as he continued on, "The thing about volleyball is each and every guy on this side of the net is your ally! If you suck, bring it! Make trouble for us! Hold us back! We're here to back you up! We are a team!" Shōyō now had stars in his eyes at the second-years words. Yup, he definitely had cheered up the boy. "We are your upperclassmen! Now call me Tanaka-senpai."

"Tanaka-senpai!" Shōyō instantly responded happily.

Suga deadpanned, "He just wants to be called senpai."

Endo nodded his head before sighed sadly and slouching, "yeah... so do I..." Maybe he should try to do this too to get the first-years to respect him as their senpai. After all, as a good senpai, he must look out for his kohais when he needs to. Which he would certainly do at some point. Honest.

"Yeah, but I'm glad he's here." Daichi commented drawing Endo and Suga's attention, "That sort of thing sounds best coming from someone who's honest to a fault." He wasn't wrong, Tanaka's brutally honest nature was perfect to match Shōyō's stupid and oblivious mentality. Tanaka might just be a perfect key to helping control Shōyō at times.

With Shōyō now pumped up, the match continued. Now, Endo was up to serve, and he was more than ready to show off his serving once again. He bounced the ball a few times in front of him before the whistle was blown. He smirked, "watch and learn boys!" With that, he threw up the ball and ran up to hit his jump serve. For the Aoba Johsai team, it was eerily similar to someone else's serve that they've seen. They weren't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Though the ball was received, albeit a bit shakily, and was enough to allow Aoba Johsai to attack. Tsukishima was the one to receive it this time and let Kageyama set it. Now that Shōyō was more controlled, it was time to try the freak quick. In a blink of an eye, Shōyō was already in the air as Kageyama set him the ball. Though it didn't work. The ball landed on the ground without Shōyō having even touched the ball. He had closed his eyes like normal but had missed the ball completely.

Seeing that Shōyō had messed up, Kindaichi snickered on the other side of the net. There was no way that the little shrimp could actually hit one of Kageyama's royal serves. It was nothing but a fluke, he thought. "You have to hit balls like that or the king will get mad at you."

"Hinata!" Kageyama shouted which caused the boy to bristle in fear. Though it was unfounded as Kageyama just apologized, "Sorry, that toss was a little too high."

That certainly shocked his former teammates. Shōyō just bounced over to him, "I am willing to forgive you!" Though he yelped in pain once Kageyama grabbed him by the head with a scary expression, "Ow, ow, ow! You're hurting me, Kageyama! I'll go bald!"

"Bakayama!" Sakura shouted at him with narrowed eyes. Kageyama instantly let go of her brother, though tried to act as though he wasn't at least a little bit scared of the girl. There was no way that Kageyama feared her, not in the slightest!

The next point was played and this time, the freak attack actually worked. Which surprised their opponents immensely. Everyone expressed their happiness that it actually worked this time, even Sakura. Though it was really just a small smirk and a spark in her eyes that indicated she was happy with the play. 

Karasuno celebrated their point together which Shōyō marveled at, "Th-this is so team-like!"

"Huh? There's nothing "like" about it." Tanaka said and smirked happily, "We are a team."

Shōyō then exploded in excitement, "Yessir! Yessir!"

They then set up to play once again as Kageyama spoke, "Now that Hinata is in action, let's start our counter attack." The team was more than happy to agree with that statement.

The game continued with Shōyō being a good decoy and spiker for the team. He certainly was making up quite a bit of the points that he had lost in the first set. Karasuno was starting to earn some good points with Daichi's receives, Tsukishima's blocks, Tanaka's spikes, Enod's serves, and the troublesome duo's freak attack. Eventually, Aoba Johsai became so intimidated by Karasuno's sudden strong plays that they had to call a timeout.

The entire team was buzzing with excitement now that they had gotten into the groove of things. Kageyama scowled at Shōyō who walked over after sharing some words with Daichi, "You're slow."

"You're doing good, Shō-nii," Sakura commented and shoved Kageyama away from them. She was truly happy to see that her brother had gotten over his nerves for this game. It only took losing one set, but he eventually got there. That's all that mattered to her.

Shōyō beamed at her praise with a smile that nearly blinded his sister, "Thanks, imouto!"

"He only messed up about a hundred times beforehand," Tsukishima commented as he and Yamaguchi approached their fellow first-years. Sakura rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. She just turned her head and made it seem as though she was indifferent to his words. In reality, she hated how Tsukishima was poking at her brother, but she bit her tongue. She figured that Tsukishima was just always like this, saying mean things just to get a rise out of people. So she wanted to control herself enough and not give him the satisfaction of being affected by what he says.

Shōyō would have verbally retaliated against the blond giant but he eyed the bottle of water in his hand. After having played this game for a little while, Shōyō was quite parched. He tried to grab for the water bottle, but Tsuishima easily held it over his head. "Hey, I wanna drink!"

Tsukishima then pushed the bottle into Shōyō's face and taunted him, "Wanna drink? Oh, sorry. Your face is lower than I thought..."

Sakura clicked her tongue with a bland expression, "Are your insults limited to mentioning how short he is all the time?" She pursed her lips, "I thought you were supposed to be smart, shouldn't you be more original?" Not even Yamaguchi could help himself from letting out a small snicker at that. Though Kageyama and Shōyō were laughing a bit loudly at her words since they caused Tsukishima a bit of plight. The blond scowled harshly at Sakura before tossing the bottle at Shōyō who caught it clumsily. 

The time-out was called off and the game resumed. Eventually, Karausno took the lead with 18-17. Well, now, it was 19-17 once Tsukishima was able to spike a ball over the net thanks to Kageyama's pin-point set. Something he made clear freaked him out a bit.

On Karasuno's bench all of the benchwarmers, Kiyoko, Sakura, and Takeda watched the match with wide eyes. Karasuno was definitely looking to be a better team now more than ever. With the addition of their new members, they were rounding out to be a team to look out for, which was good for them. Not only did Kageyama and Shōyō end up being a strong pair in the game, but Tsukishima was proving to be an intimidating blocker.

"Oh, I see." Takeda started as he looked over the setup that the team had for the match, "Every time they take a point and get serving rights, they rotate. Right now, Kageyama, Tsukishima, and Endo are acting as forwards."

Suga nodded his head and leaned down to look at it as well, more than willing to explain more to their advisor. "Yes, right now their positions are exactly the opposite from the start of the game."

"When Hinata-kun is in the front, our overall attack success rate increases thanks to his decoy tactics." Takeda observed, "On the other hand, when the ball goes to Tsukishima, his intimidating blocking is every bit as good as Seijoh's team."

At the net, Tsukishima and Kageyama stood next to each other as they were getting ready to block an attack. The blond glared at Kageyama, "I forget, are you good at blocking too? Just try to stay out of my way."

"Be careful not to get blown away, you gangly bastard," Kageyama said as he scowled in return.

"You first-years are such a hassle!" Endo chuckled from next to them.

Tanaka then jumped at them angrily, "I keep telling you, the enemy is on the other side of the net! Hey, they're coming!"

The three-man block was a success, though it resulted in an argument between Kageyama and Tsukishima about who blocked it. Endo watched them in amusement as they were reprimanded by their captain and Kageyama started to attack Shōyō about him laughing. Yeah, this team was definitely a lively one, and he loved it.

The second set came to an end, with Karasuno being the winners. It was definitely a confidence boost to come back like this. The entire Karasuno team was more than elated with how the tides had turned, even Sakura had let slip a small minuscule smile at the win. Aoba Johsai though were finding that they had certainly underestimated the crows quite a bit. Sure, in the beginning, Karasuno wasn't that organized with each other, but they fixed that quickly and proved to be a good competitor.

"Right on! Let's keep this up to take the final set!" Tanaka exclaimed and clapped Shōyō on the back harshly. The two of them then started to chant, "Victory! Victory! Victory!"

Sakura watched them from beside Kiyoko and snorted, "they're a bunch of idiots."

Ennoshita approached his captain and offered him a water bottle, "We're lucky they don't have anyone who can serve like Kageyama."

"Yeah," Daichi agreed and took a swig of his drink, "'cause out receiving is marginal at best. Thanks."

"Ne," Endo jumped over to them and crossed his arms in front of him in an 'x', "don't jinx it, captain!" Of course, he knew better, after all their actual official setter was missing. Endo knew for a fact that they had a player who could serve like Kageyama... Actually the more he thought about it, their serves were almost exactly the same. _Wait didn't they both go to Kitagawa? Why didn't I realize this sooner_ , he thought to himself as he started to put the pieces together. _Oh, well._

Kageyama then walked up to his upperclassmen with a slightly troubled expression, "Don't let your guard down. It's just a feeling, but I don't think their setter is their official setter."

There was suddenly a multitude of girls who screamed happily at something. Well, it was more like someone. That someone was Oikawa Tooru. Kageyama's senpai from his middle school. They were in trouble now.

Endo smirked as his eyes flashed in an unmeasurable amount of excitement, "there he is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oo, Endo seems to know Oikawa, I wonder how. You'll find out eventually! Also for this chapter, I wanted to include Endo in the game so he kind of just took Ennoshita's spot in the game. I'm sorry! I love Ennoshita, but Endo needed to play in this match! Forgive me! Also I love writing Sakura as a bit of a sadist. She just likes to take pictures of people in unfortunate situations and laugh at them. I can totally see her showing her mother and sister the pictures of Shōyō messing up in volleyball and the three laughing at them. Ah! I also have made up my mind about a love interest for Sakura! Now that that is resolved, I don't have to worry about choosing it so much anymore. Though... I'm not going to tell you just yet, hehe. You'll just have to wait. However, you can take a guess as to who it is, it'd be kind of cool to see who you think I've chosen.
> 
> So I started working on a sort of thing, I got bored the other day and made a wiki site. I don't know why, but it seemed like a good idea. I mean, it kind of was, but at the same time, it was super time-consuming. I made it on google site cause it was easy. But like... if I was to say publish it and give the link, would you guys check it out? I was just going to use it for myself and keep track of all my stuff, however, if I make it like an actual site, would you guys wanna see it? Overall, it's just like any fan wiki site, I think. It has character explanations, a catalog of the stories I've written and am going to write, and also a place to request stories and such. I had tried to do the same thing on Tumblr, but I found that I didn't like it all that much. It's still pretty disorganized and nowhere near ready to actually be seen but when it is, do ya'll wanna see it? Just wondering. Anyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter! Until the next one, my friends!


	7. Versus the Great King

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, long time no see! My hiatus was a tad bit longer than I had wanted it to be, however, it couldn't be helped :\ So I'll give a brief explanation for it I suppose. So I recently got a job for the holiday season, yay! It does take up most of my time now, but we do want that money, you know. Not only that but I've had some big assignments for school and such which included some exams. So that took over all of my time. Though that's over now and I have a bit of a consistent schedule now which means I can start writing again! Though I've decided that I'll probably be uploading on either Sundays or Mondays since the only real time I have to write is on the weekends. Hope that's all right. Anyway, here's this chapter, again, sorry it took so long, hope ya'll like it!

**IT ALMOST SEEMED LIKE THE GYM CAME** to a stand-still now that the Aoba Johsai captain had finally arrived for the match. Even if both teams were having their break in between sets, their attention was drawn to the official setter of the powerhouse school. His very presence seemed as though it demanded recognition, or at least he carried himself that way. The smug aura that surrounded him was not unnoticed by Karasuno. In fact, a few of them even seemed to be glowering at him for it. Well, it was more like just Tanaka, who didn't like the attention that the captain was getting from the girls who stood to watch the match.

Endo seemed to be the only one on the team that was a tad bit excited at the arrival of the other boy. Don't get him wrong, it was a bit unsettling to know that they'd have to face his monster serves now, but that made it a bit thrilling for him. He hadn't gotten to play against Oikawa all that much. Karasuno never made it far enough to play against Aoba Johsai at any tournaments. The only time he did get to see Oikawa was when they were in grades school and practiced with each other. If Endo thought about it, the last time he really got to see the cocky setter and talk with him was some time last year. And the last time he practiced volleyball with him was during their first year at their high schools. So, of course, he was excited at the prospect of getting to play against him and see how much he's improved. Not only that, but he was more than ready to show off how he's improved as well.

"Hey! You're back, Oikawa!" The Aoba Johsai coach said as the captain walked over, "How's your leg?"

The brown-haired third-year flashed an ok sign with a smile, "Perfect! I'm good to do regular practice. It was only a light sprain."

His coach shook his head, "Honestly, be more careful. They met our demand to produce Kageyama so we lose face if we aren't using our official setter."

"Sorry, sir," Oikawa apologized, he at least had the decency to look a little sheepish. 

Just from one look at him, Sakura could already tell that she didn't like him that much. He seemed to be the overly arrogant type, which didn't sit well with her. It was one thing to be confident in your abilities, it was another to stuff it into someone's face. He definitely seemed like the type to do that. Not only that, but he scarily reminded Sakura of a certain blond foreigner on the team, and she wasn't looking forward to having yet another Endo around.

Then again, Sakura shouldn't judge just based on the vibe she was getting off of him. If he had a shitty personality or the personality of a saint, she wouldn't care. He's a player from a different team. He may be her brother's opponent, but as long as he didn't infuriate her by undermining her brother or otherwise annoying her, then she wouldn't care about Oikawa or what he does.

A girl from the stands suddenly yelled out, "Oikawa, please don't hurt yourself!" There was then a collection of giggles and shouts from other fangirls in the stands. The sound was infuriating quite a few people on Karasuno's team.

"Kageyama, who is Mr. Slim there?" Tanaka was obviously one of them as he gritted his teeth in irritation, "I am exceedingly displeased."

"That is Seijoh's captain," Daichi answered.

Kageyama stared at his former senpai with narrowed eyes, "Oikawa... is a super offensive setter. I'd say he's at the top of his class for attacks and team play." He then turned to the Hinata twins with a slightly troubled expression, "And he's extremely nasty."

"Worse than you?" Shōyō asked in disbelief, not thinking that there could be anyone worse than Kageyama.

Kageyama shook his head, "Maybe worse than Tsukishima." Said boy just looked over at the group with narrowed eyes. Why was he being brought up in this conversation?

Sakura squinted her eyes in thought, "Is that even possible?" She hadn't really met many people with personalities as bad as Tsukishima, but was it possible to be _worse_ than him?

"He must be really bad!" Shōyō exclaimed at the same time.

Tanaka then asked, "You know him, so he's from Kitagawa First?"

"Yes," Kageyama answered with a nod.

Endo slithered himself over to the first-year setter and leaned against his shoulder. "Weren't you his kohai back then?" A wide smile grew to take over most of his face as he seemingly leered down at the younger boy. "His precious _Tobio-chan_?" 

"How do you know that?" Kageyama asked skeptically. 

The third-year just continued to smile cheekily. He wasn't sure why he hadn't put it together already. Kageyama was the genius kohai that he had heard Oikawa talk about for a bit. Why hadn't he figured this out beforehand? It should have been quite obvious! Then again, Endo didn't really hang around Oikawa when he was in junior high, so it's slightly understandable as to why he didn't know. 

He could see how Oikawa had come to dislike Kageyama, as Endo could see how jealous Oikawa could be of the genius boy. From what he could tell, Kageyama was what Oikawa wanted to be. A young, aspiring setter who had a skill that he was most likely born with. Oikawa had to work hard for the skill that he had now, not just given it by the volleyball gods at birth. Still, this was the type of drama that Eno loved. Oh, he's glad that he ended up on Kageyama's team, his reputation would certainly bring about a lot of drama.

"Yoo-hoo!" The captain of Aoba Johsai called out to the other side of the court, gaining the attention of the Karasuno team. He waved at Kageyama with a smile, "Long time no see, Tobio-chan! Having fun being the king?" His teasing smile then dipped as he caught sight of the blond still hanging on Kageyama. His expression became strained, "Endo."

Endo smirked and disregarded the looks that he was getting from his teammates. He let go of Kageyama and leaned forward with his electric eye burning in amusement as they were pointed at the Seijoh captain. "How's the knee, Flattykawa?"

Oikawa stuck his tongue out at him and shook his head, "I'm not telling you!" He then turned to his own coach to talk with him and ignore the other third-year. His reaction earned a satisfied chuckle from the drama queen who ignored the stares from his team. He already knew he'd have to explain how he knew him, but he wasn't sure if he should tell them everything. No, a brief explanation should be fine, he thought. As much as he liked drama, gossip surrounding himself is something he doesn't likes to divulge people in.

"I learned how to serve and block by watching him," Kageyama explains, pulling the questioning stares from Endo and onto himself. "He is extremely good. However, focus on the game for now. We're going to take the last set."

"R-right on!" Shōyō stuttered.

Kageyama then turned to his senpai who was currently trying to send Oikawa his most intimidating stare. "Tanaka, stop trying to intimidate them!"

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows while walking back over to the bench. "Intimidate? It looks like he's constipated more than anything."

Her comment earned a small giggle from Kiyoko and a deflated Tanaka who tried to fire himself back up by shouting, "I'm seriously gonna kill 'im!"

Endo chuckled at his underclassmen and glanced over at the Seijoh captain. He watched as Oikawa went off to start up his warm-ups. Even from across the room, Endo could see with his keen eyes that Oikawa was favoring one leg over the other. "Ah, I haven't seen that moron in a long while." He tsked while putting down his water bottle. "He's always getting injured."

The game continued on, with points being exchanged and earned by each team. Though throughout the set, there were plenty of girls gathering around, worrying over their poor Oikawa. It certainly encouraged Tanaka to make some more spikes which got through most of Aoba Johsai's blocks. Kageyama and Shōyō did their own set and spike a few times, earning points. Kageyama and Tsukishima also made some crucial blocks while Endo made a few service aces. Overall, the third set was going well and in Karasuno's favor. 

_Wow,_ Sakura thought to herself as she looked at the score, _ma_ _tch point... who would have thought._

Karasuno was now at match point. Only one more point before they won this practice match. A win now would definitely build up team morale and confidence. They could say that they won against _the_ Aoba Johsai, one of the best volleyball teams in the prefecture. And who wouldn't want that opportunity? Granted there were still a few mistakes that were being made by Karasuno during this set, but it was a work in progress. Tsukishima and Shōyō's receives needed work as did some of their serving, but they were holding themselves against their opponents.

Though the mood changed once Oikawa was subbed into the game. He took the place of one of the team's first-year wing spikers, Kunimi Akira. It was his turn to serve. To say that Karasuno wasn't nervous was an understatement. The only ones who looked about ready were Endo and Daichi, though that could be attributed to the fact that they were the oldest on the court at the moment and good at recieves. That and Endo knew how to receive Oikawa's serves from practice, so he didn't have that much to worry about.

Oikawa, being the cocky teen that he is, stood at the back of the court to serve and pointed at one of the weaker receivers on the team. Tsukishima. Obviously, he was indicating that he was going to serve right to him. If it were anyone else doing that, Endo would have laughed and taunted them about having good aim, but he wouldn't. Oikawa had scary good aim, so there was no doubting whether or not he would actually do it. Without further ado, the captain threw up the volleyball and used a jump serve to hit the ball right where he had pointed. As he had predicted, Tsukishima was unable to receive the ball causing it to fly off into the upper level.

Everyone was in shock at the accuracy, including Sakura, even if it was for a moment. The indication of her shock was mainly just her eyebrows raising up just a bit and her lips opening up the slightest bit. "Yeah, I thought so." Oikawa said from the other side of the court, "I started watching midway through. You guys, Number 6 and Number 5..." Tsukishima and Shōyō blanched at being called out like that. "You're bad at receives. Are you guys first-years?" There was no way that Oikawa would serve anywhere near Endo, knowing that the blond could receive any ball that he served. A downside to having practiced with the drama queen when they were kids. So why not target the newer members of the team? "Okay, I'm going for another."

Once again he did his impressive serve at the same spot, causing Aoba Johsai to earn yet another point as Tsukishima couldn't revive it. "Tsukki!" Yamaguchi shouted in worry as he clutched onto the nearest person to him, which just so happened to be Sakura.

"Tch," She clicked her tongue and gently pushed Yamaguchi away from her as nicely as she could. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't latch on to me, Yamaguchi."

He jumped away from her, already seeing that he was pissing her off just a little. He definitely didn't want to upset her at all. "Gomen Hinata-chan!"

"Hey, you, Great King!" Back on the court, Shōyō started to jump around and shout at Oikawa like a toddler. "Aim for me! I can take it! Target me! Don't mess with me! Hit that thing!"

Tsukishima sneered from behind him, "Stop hollering! It's undignified!"

"Excuse me!" The orange-haired boy shouted at his teammate, offended. Even if Tsukishima was acting like an ass, as usual, Oikawa was definitely getting on his nerves a lot more. So he would just have to put up with the blond giant for the time being. "The thing about volleyball is... each and every guy on this side of the net is your ally!"

Tanaka smiled proudly and flustered to know that Shōyō was using his words, "What choice words of wisdom!"

"Okay!" Daichi stepped in as the captain to control the situation, "Fall back as a group. Tsukishima, get closer to the sideline."

Now Karasuno had set up to make sure that Daichi was in the middle of the court to most likely receive the serve once it came over the net. After all, he is their best receiver on the team at the moment. By also placing Tsukishima towards the sidelines it would increase the chance of Oikawa messing up his serve and maybe hitting it out of bounds. Endo wanted to argue that he should be placed in the center since he could actually receive the serve, but Daichi stuck to his plan. Endo wasn't going to argue with his captain about it, so he just stuck to the front of the net like he was told.

Oikawa served once again and proved that their set up didn't work, at all. Oikawa was easily able to hit it to Tsukishima again, though this time it wasn't as powerful as the last couple. 

"Tsukki!" Yamaguchi cried out, causing Sakura to cringe at his shout.

"He made a pinpoint hit on the guy so close to the edge!" Takeda marveled from the sidelines.

Suga shook his head, "But the momentum has to be slower due to the emphasis on control!" This time, Tsukishima was able to receive the ball and return it. "It went up!"

"Tsukki, nice," Yamaguchi let out in relief.

Sakura eyed the ball as it flew over to the other side of the net, "Oops, a chance ball."

Aoba Johsai set up the ball as normal, already believing that they were going to get this point to tie the game. The ball was set to Kindaichi who appeared to have a clear shot. Only, Shōyō came out of nowhere to block it. It was just a one-touch, but it was enough for Kageyama to set the ball. With his impressive speeds, Shōyō spiked the ball onto the other side of the net. Oikawa was amazed, he had barely even moved before the ball went sailing past him. How interesting. He'd never seen anything that fast.

Everyone in the gym was in awe. How did Karasuno win this game?! "All right!" Tanaka shouted, celebrating their win as they collected themselves after that tiring game. They had done it, they _won_ against Aoba Johsai!

Takeda plopped down onto the bench in amazement. Sakura and Suga turned to their teacher with eyebrows raised. Suga asked him, "What's the matter?"

"That was amazing," he breathed out.

"Oh, right." Suga smiled like a proud mother, "Today is your first time seeing Hinata and Kageyama's attack. Aren't they amazing? I mean amazing, even scary."

"It's terrifying," Sakura agreed monotonously earning a sweat drop from her senpai. Yes, it was terrifying and super effective. She could now see just how effective it is when put into a game against another team. 

In the past, Sakura would be the first to say that she didn't think that Shōyō would get anywhere with his dream to be like the famed Little Giant. He didn't have a team for the longest time and barely any support. Though she kept her pessimistic thoughts to herself, not wanting to rain on her brother's parade. However, now, seeing that he was making a place for him on this team, that he had a killer combo with Kageyama, she had hope. She didn't want to admit how much hope it was, but it was quite a bit. She could feel that warm feeling in her chest, the feeling that crept on her whenever she was proud of Shōyō. Sakura was finally hopeful that Shōyō would go places with this team. That's all that she wants for him. To be successful. To be happy with what he loves. Only time will tell though and she'd be right by his side the entire time.

The team then ran up to the bench to surround Takeda and bowed to him, "Please coach us."

Takeda was confused for a moment and turned to Sakura and Suga for an explanation. Though Sakura didn't help as she just moved to stand beside her brother and faced him as well. Suga scratched the back of his neck, "Sensei, maybe give a critique or something."

"O-oh, I see." Takeda swallowed as he fidgeted slightly with the stares of his students pointed at him. He cleared his throat and tried to collect his thoughts, "Um... I'm just a beginner when it comes to volleyball, but... But even I can tell that something amazing is going on here." Daichi and Endo shared a glance, "We have some amazing first-years this semester. They were hard to handle in the beginning, but I learned something today. We're nothing if we don't cooperate. A chemical synergy happens when each one encounters the other... Even this very moment is giving birth to other encounters that will change the world. Maybe in some far, remote country. Maybe on the other side of the planet. Or maybe at an ordinary volleyball club, at an ordinary high school, in a northern countryside on a small island in the east. I think that encounters like that happened to Karasuno today. I know I can't prove what I say, but it's better than not believing. All of you will most likely become stronger. Much stronger!" His long and lyrical speech earned himself silence for the students that surrounded him. Even if it was long and not a critique of their playing, it was still just as inspirational. The teacher then panicked as no one really reacted to it. "Sorry! That was a little too poetic! Are you turned off?"

Daichi rushed up to reassure him, "No, no, no, of course not. Thank you."

"Thank you," the team then bowed to him in thanks.

"Oh, y-yeah." He laughed nervously with a light blush on his cheeks.

Sakura huffed in amusement, "I can see why you're a literature teacher, sensei."

* * *

With the game now over and clean up nearly done, it was time for Karasuno to head back to their own school. The crows made their way out of the Seijoh school gym together, still buzzing with the after-effects of their win. Shōyō was bouncing in place next to Sakura as he recounted the game to her in detail. Sakura just allowed him to, there was no way that she was going to ask him to stop his excited rant. If someone paid close enough attention, they could see the smallest of smiles on her lips as she side-glanced her brother. She tried to make it seem like she wasn't paying that much attention to him, and uninterested in his babbling. However, Shōyō knew that she was giving him her undivided attention, and that's all that mattered.

"Takeda-sensei complimented us," Daichi commented as he spoke with Suga and Endo at the front of the pack. "But frankly, if we were facing Seijoh and Oikawa in an all-out match, we'd be lacking."

"Spoken like a true captain," A new voice commented from in front of the group as they neared the gate of the school. They all looked up to see that it was the captain of Aoba Johsai himself, Oikawa Tooru who had seemingly waited for them. The brown-haired captain smiled artificially at them, "You know your stuff. Have you been telling them about me, Endo?" 

The blond ran a hand through his hair with an arrogant smile that was quite menacing in the dim sunlight, "Don't flatter yourself, Loserkawa. I don't talk about you to others."

Shōyō jumped at Oikawa's appearance, "The Great King makes his entrance!" Most of the team was now ticked off that Oikawa had decided to show up. Endo appeared to be highly amused, the first-years and Tanaka looked thoroughly angered, and the others looked annoyed. Sakura's face scrunched up in a small amount of disgust. She found this a bit weird. Had he waited for them to walk out of the gate this entire time? That's creepy.

"You got a problem, dude?" Tanaka jumped closer to him with his intimidating expression on his face. 

Plastered to his senpai's back, Shōyō tagged along to confront the Great King, "What do you want?"

Tanaka continued on with his intimidation attempt, though it didn't seem to be working at all, "Wanna fight, huh?"

"Wanna fight, huh?" Shōyō echoed. It seemed like Tanaka might end up being a bad influence on the little ball of sunshine.

Oikawa just continued to smile, as if he wasn't going to try and antaganize his opponents. "Don't be so hostile. You, little one."

"Huh?" Shōyō jumped at the captain having stated to talk to him.

"Your last one-touch and broad attack were amazing," Oikawa complimented the small teen.

"Huh?" It took a moment for Shōyō to process his words before he blushed, "Oh..." Sakura sighed and bonked her brother on the head, to try and get him to focus. Even one compliment on his skills and he becomes a bumbling idiot. Though he usually is an idiot all the time, so it shouldn't be surprising.

"Let's give it all we got the next time, right from the start," Oikawa started to say, "You didn't get to see our set up. Oh, yes, and we'll be improving our serves, too. It's true, your offense was amazing, but your receives aren't polished." He was clearly pointing out their flaws to try and annoy them quite a bit. The entire team wasn't exactly happy to hear that. "You'll reach your limit very quickly. I'm not the only one who hits powerful serves. The Inter-High preliminaries are coming up soon. Don't get eliminated, okay?" He then raised his hand and pointed at Kageyama with a smirk, "Because I... want to pulverize my dear underclassman, setter-on-setter, in an official match." He then spun around to glare at Endo with a fire in his eyes that burned just as brightly as it did while he was looking at Kageyama. "And you! I'm going to beat you like I always do, got that?"

Endo smirked cheekily as his eyes sparkled at the challenge, "We'll see."

Already getting anered by what Oikawa had been saying, Shōyō jumped over to Tsukishima and grabbed his jacket, to the taller boy's annoyance, "The receivers will train."

Tsukishima grunted and tried to pull himself away from the small ginger, "Hey, let go."

"Receivers don't improve overnight," Oikawa stated, "Ask the captain. He should know. There's not much time left 'til the tournament. I look forward to seeing you there." He turned to start walking back into his school gym, however, he paused. He saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Oh? Another chibi?" He caught another head of orange hair and was confused for a second as he raised a questioning brow. He looked between the apparent twins with interest and bent down slightly to try and be eye-level with the girl. Sakura couldn't tell if he was doing it just because or to make fun of her height. Either way, she didn't appreciate it. "Wow, you two look identical, are you as good as a volleyball player as your twin?" There was no way that he could not think that those two were siblings, well, twins. They were, as he said, identical. The only difference he could find between them was the dull look in the girl's eyes, which was slightly off-putting. Still, she'd probably just end up being like any of the other girls who swarm around him, right? Every girl that he came across fell for his charm, even the cold, tsundere type. She'd be no different, he thought.

The other orange-haired teen paused in her steps to follow after her brother's team. She sighed, y _are yare._ Sakura ignored the name-calling and turned to stare at the third-year setter in boredom. What was with volleyball players and being so cocky and annoying? She had yet to meet a single boy who wasn't annoying like this. Perhaps you just needed to be annoying to play volleyball? She smiled extremely wide at the older boy as it was pretty obvious that it was fake. Not only that, but her eyes were cold and unamused, "You can say all you want, Oikawa-san, but I know my brother's team will work hard to beat you." She stated bluntly as her brown eyes were sharp as she pinpointed Oikawa to the spot. Sakura was doing quite a good job of being intimidating, Oikawa may have even shivered under her gaze. She didn't even need to try and she could be quite the terrifying person. "Don't underestimate them, got it?"

Oikawa hummed in thought as if considering what she had to say. He had to admit, she was quite scary, though he was used to scary people like this thanks to being friends with Iwaizumi. Still, her straightforward words gave quite a bit of insight into what type of girl she is. The cold, tsundere type. How fun. Without saying anything else, the Aoba Johsai captain turned to walk back into his school's gym. He certainly had quite a bit to ponder over now with this new and improved Karasuno team.

Kageyama looked between his teammates before turning to Daichi, "Don't let him get to you. He likes to razz people like that."

"He really does get under your skin," Endo nodded his head as his eyes had yet to stray from Oikawa. His blue hues seemed to be glued to Oikawa's back as he disappeared from sight. All of this, the fact that Endo seemed to know the other captain, and that he was staring after him with such a knowing expression, just raised even _more_ questions from his friends. 

Daichi just chuckled, "It's true. We don't have much time before the Inter-High Preliminaries, but _he_ should be coming back soon."

Shōyō tilted his head at his captain, "Who's coming back soon?"

"The Guardian Deity of Karasuno." Just those simple words brought an air of mystery and amazement to Shōyō. Who could have such a title on Karasuno's team? How good of a player could they be to gain such a distinguished title? Though Sakura couldn't help herself but think that things were going to get even more chaotic once this "Deity" came back to the team. She could only hope that it wouldn't get too hectic.

* * *

Now that it was dark, and Karasuno had finished their practice, it ws time for the team to clean up the gym. "All right, let's clean up quickly." Daichi told the team as they gathered around him and Takeda, "Then we're done. Good job today." He then sent them off to start cleaning up the gym together as he turned to talk with their advisor.

At this point, the Hinata twins were beyond tired. Both of them had seemingly run out of energy for the day. It almost seemed impossible for Shōyō since he always had an abundance of energy for everything that he ever does. However, he'd have to burn out at some point. Sakura being tired wasn't that surprising since she didn't seem to have as much energy as her brother. Most people would assume that she didn't because of her mellow and quiet personality, though they would never believe that she actually has just as much energy as Shōyō. She just doesn't use it as much as her brother. Shōyō jumps and runs around any chance he can get while Sakura conserves her energy at any chance she can. Though that didn't mean she was any less tired at the moment. Watching that practice game definitely tired her out.

Much like his sister, who may or may not be falling asleep at the moment, Shōyō was swaying from side to side. If he kept this up, he'd end up falling asleep leaning against the mop he had been using. "Hinata-kun, that's enough mopping." Ennoshita said as he made sure the obviously tired first-year didn't fall over due to his exhaustion, "Go home."

"Look at that Tsukki," Yamaguchi chuckled as he and his best friend mopped up the gym floor together.

Tsukishima snickered at the sight of Shōyō almost falling asleep while standing, "Amazing." He then took a glance over at the other Hinata twin who was doing the same thing as her brother. Though she was sat on the floor by the door almost falling asleep where she sat. He huffed, so maybe there was at least _one_ similarity between the twins.

Endo leaned over the girl by the door with a tilted head. His eyes sparkled, "Look how cute Hinata-chan is!"

Tanaka jumped over as well, marveling at the cuteness of the first-year girl, "She's adorable!"

"You two have five seconds before I kick you in a very uncomfortable place," Sakura muttered tiredly with her eyes still closed, "One-" She barely even started to count before the two boys retreated, not willing to risk getting hurt by the small girl.

Endo made sure to use the volleyballs that he had been carrying as a shield for his crotch, which she most certainly had threatened. He pouted while scurrying away, "Why are the first-years so _violent_?"

Everyone was finishing up their clean up for the night. Of course, Sakura was no help since she didn't want or need to help them. She wasn't a member of the club so she isn't obligated to clean up after their practices and such. She's just the team photographer, all that she's concerned about was taking photos. Though at the moment she was wondering how she was going to get home since she's so tired. 

_It's way too late,_ she tiredly thought to herself, _why do these practices run so damn long?_

Though she didn't have to wait much longer since almost everything just had to be put into the closet. Then she would finally get to leave! Putting the mops that he and Tsukishima had used, Yamaguchi was almost done with his clean up. Though he did end up finding something in the equipment closet. "What's this?" He muttered to himself as he pulled out a wooden mop that was broken in half. He turned to the third-years also in the equipment closet with him, "This mop looks dangerous. Can I throw it away?"

Once Suga caught sight of it, he swiftly walked over and took the two pieces from him. "Oh, don't worry about that. It's all right." He stared down at the two halves sadly, a far off look in his eyes. "We can fix it, and still use it."

Yamaguchi eyed him in confusion, "Huh?"

Just entering the closet with the last of the volleyballs, Endo smiled widely. "Come on, Yamaguchi," he stepped in and grabbed his kohai's shoulders to steer him out of the closet, "we can finish up in here."

The first-year looked between the two with a raised eyebrow, thoughtfully confused. He had yet to pick up on the slight melancholy atmosphere that was slowly emanating off of Suga. Not only that but he couldn't see how strained Endo's smile was. Yamaguchi tilted his head, "Are you sure?"

Endo smiled brightly, his lips stretching into a smile that was far too big to be real, "Of course!"

With one last curious glance, Yamaguchi headed out of the closet to grab his things and meet up with Tsukishima. Still in the closet, Suga put down the broken mop in a safe place while Endo approached him. He placed a reassuring yet firm hand on his shoulder. "Those two'll be back," he told him softly with his fake smile now replaced with a small twitch of his lips. His expression, while not completely confident, still seemed to have hope in it. "They can't stay away forever, you know."

Suga nodded his head, "Yeah..."

* * *

The team soon went their separate ways to head home. Tanaka, Kageyama, Daichi, Suga, and the Hinata twins had headed out together and made their way down the hill. The single brain cell trio had wanted to head into the convenience store at the bottom of the hill to grab some food. So while they harassed the worker at the store, Sakura grabbed her and her brother's bikes from where they were chained up.

Now the group was walking down the dark streets to their homes, "But I gotta say... Nice Guy sure has an amazing serve." Tanaka commented, "We would've been in trouble if he'd played from the start. He's Kageyama's junior high senpai, after all... Huh? Wait a second." He turned to Kageyama as they all stoped to face the younger setter. "Why are you at Karasuno, Kageyama? The strongest school in the prefecture is Shiratorizawa."

Shōyō tilted his head with a mouthful of his food, "Shiratori?"

"Shiratorizawa," Sakura simply answered her brother with a roll of her eyes. He should know what the school is, not only because of its volleyball reputation but because of her.

"They're top in the prefecture." Tanaka explained, "They're a powerhouse school ranked among the top eight in the country."

The short boy nodded his head in amazement, "Oh."

Kageyama just stared at them plainly, "I didn't make Shiratorizawa."

"You didn't make it?" Tanaka exclaimed in confusion, thinking that an amazing setter like him would be able to get into Shiratorizawa.

"I never got a recommendation from them, so I took a general entrance exam." He explained, "I didn't understand the exam at all."

Sakura expected that much from him. She had to admit that the entrance exam seemed quite tough. Of course, she didn't have to take it since she received a full ride to the school. Though she had a feeling that even she might have trouble with the exam if she were to take it. However, she would still pass it in the end.

"That school is super hard to get into by conventional means," Daichi agreed, already knowing how rigorous and tough the school is along with the entrance exam.

"I guess the King isn't very good at studies," Tsukishima commented snidely as he and Yamaguchi walked past the group to head home. Kageyama bristled at the jab at his intelligence which caused Sakura to huff in amusement. She tried to hide it behind her hand since it was Tsukishima who had made the remark, she didn't need that beanpole to know that she found something he said funny. That certainly would inflate his stupid ego, and she didn't want that.

Yamaguchi snickered and walked alongside his best friend, "See ya."

"But why did you come to Karasuno?" Shōyō asked once Kageyama had calmed down from Tsukishima's comment, "Are you an admirer of the Little Giant, too?"

Sakura shook her head and took the power bar from Shōyō's hands to take a bite out of it, "Not everyone wants to be like the Little Giant, nii-san."

Kageyama shook his head, "I heard Coach Ukai is coming out of retirement."

"Ukai?" The Hinata twins asked in unison with matching tilted heads.

Tanaka nodded his head, as he pointed into the air strongly and exclaimed, "An outstanding coach who took unknown Karasuno to the spring nationals!"

"Wow!" Shōyō jumped at that while Sakura raised an eyebrow in interest.

Tanaka continued on his explanation. "The name "Ukai of Karasuno" is famous. They call him the coach in charge of vicious crows."

Sakura tried to imagine what kind of coach this would be. He would definitely be a no-nonsense kind of person, she thought. He wouldn't take any sort of excuse about someone's inability to do something in a game. There was one thing that she didn't envy athletes for, and that was having to deal with coaches like that.

"Second and third-years got some coaching from him. He was pretty Spartan." Suga explained with a bit of irritation in his voice. It seemed like even the reminder of all the back-breaking training that they had to do. He looked over at the first-years to see that Shōyō and Kageyama looked jealous at the training that they got with the crow coach. "Why do you look so envious?" He sweatdropped, "Coach Ukai was going to officially come out of retirement, but... he collapsed."

Kageyama's expression hardened, "But I figured, no matter what school I attended, I'd be up against high school students like me. There's no reason why I couldn't win."

"Quit being a sore loser." Tanaka chuckled, "You can act cool about it but you failed just the same."

Kageyama grabbed Shōyō by his jacket, as the tangerine had been snickering as well, and held him up over the ground. "That's not true, and I'm not acting cool about it. We did defeat a top four team today, didn't we?"

"True, 2-1 against Seijoh." The second-year nodded his head in thought, "I was able to score one free, too, thanks to Hinata-kun's decoy."

Shōyō saluted, "Thanks."

"But how was your debut match for you?" Tanaka asked the ball of sunshine as Sakura punched Kageyama's head to get him to drop her brother. Kageyama did as she wanted but glared at her for having hurt him. She just stared at him blankly showing that she didn't care that she may have hurt him. Besides them, Shōyō remembered what it felt like on the court. The sting on the palm of his hand from when the volleyball had hit his hand still lingered. The reminder of the exhilarating feeling of actually scoring points for the team brought joy to him in the cool Japanese street. It was his first match, and he sure hoped it wouldn't be his last, he loved it so much. Though Tanaka decided to drag him down from his pedestal for a moment, "Well, you really went crazy in that first set."

Kageyama joined in on it as the two loomed over Shōyō, "You scored as many points as you lost, so don't get complacent."

"Why must you say things like that?" Suga exclaimed as Shōyō deflated at their words. As much as it was hurtful, it was also true, Sakura thought.

"That's right. We're lacking in a lot of ways." Daichi said wisely, "Today's victory was by the skin of our teeth."

Shōyō jumped up in enthusiasm, "I-I will practice a lot!"

"Oh, yeah." The captain sweatdropped at the boy's energy, "Individual level-upping is important, too. But Karasuno, as it currently stands, is fundamentally short of members."

Kageyama nodded his head as he started to think out loud, "That's true. We need a libero, especially for defense. And we need an ace spiker who can battle three blockers all by himself."

"A-Ace?" Shōyō raised his hand, "That can be me."

The dark-haired setter scowled at the boy, "I told you, you're the best decoy." He turned to the third-years, "But didn't you say the "Guardian Deity" is coming back?"

"Yeah," Daich nodded.

Suga then spoke up, "We're not powerful, but we're not particularly weak, either. We had outstanding players in the past, too. But we were never able to apply to their strengths effectively." Tanaka and Daichi silently agreed with that fact, "But if all of us unite, and we also have new strength coming from our first-years... If we're able to connect all those strengths together..."

"...we could definitely go to the Summer Inter-High, the national tournament." Daichi continued for him as the morale of all the boys started to grow just a little bit at their vice-captain and captain's wise words, "It won't be a distant goal. It can actually happen."

Shōyō's eyes sparkled, "The Summer Inter-High Tournament! I've heard about it!"

"But that person who's coming back..." Kageyama tilted his head, "where has he been all this time?"

The upperclassmen all appeared to become slightly sheepish at the question. Tanaka was the one to answer, "He was suspended for one week and banned for a month from club activities."

"A delinquent?" Shōyō gasped, "He's a delinquent?"

"No... he just gets too fired up. He's a good guy, for real." Tanaka reassured them, which caused Sakura to raise an eyebrow. What kind of guy would this Deity have to be for Tanaka to say that he gets too fired up? Tanaka continued on, "And not only that, he is... a player we could say is Karasuno's unique genius. But I guess he's not the only one anymore, since we have cocky-as-hell Kageyama with us." Said setter narrowed his eyes at the second-year as the twins snickered at him.

"Call him "senpai" when he comes back, Hinata-kun." Daichi commented as they turned to head off, "You'll make him gleeful like an idiot, like Tanaka."

Tanaka deflated at his captain's words, "Like an idiot?" The group then started to walk once again, except for Shōyō who was lost in thought. He was already starting to think about what this Deity was like, he couldn't wait to meet him! Tanaka eventually called out to him and broke the orang-headed boy out of his thoughts, "Hey, we're leaving you behind."

"Oh. Coming!" 

Suga then turned to the quiet girl of the group who just continued to walk alongside them with her bike. She had barely said anything during this entire conversation. He had chalked that up to just being apart of her personality. Through these few weeks that he's known the other Hinata twin, she certainly was on the quiet side, unlike her brother. He quite liked that about her, since she usually is the level-headed one to keep Shōyō under control. "Hinata-chan?"

"Hm?" She turned to her grey-haired senpai with a raised eyebrow. 

Suga gulped slightly at the vacant look in her eyes, "Why did _you_ come to Karasuno?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders and continued to look forward, barely giving him a lingering glance, "Nii-san decided on Karasuno, so I came here too."

"Didn't you get a scholarship somewhere, imouto?" Shōyō asked as he hopped over to walk beside her. His eyes were wide and curious as he remembered how excited their mother had been that she got a scholarship. He didn't remember to what school, but he knew it had to be good since his mother was extremely, _extremely_ excited for Sakura. Then she was also extremely disheartened that Sakura didn't accept it.

She nodded her head, "Yeah, but I didn't accept it, obviously."

"What school was it?" Tanaka joined in on the conversation as he grew to be interested as well. It's not like Sakura divulged anyone in herself. The only one who knows things about the girl is her brother, so of course, he's going to be interested in hearing about her. All of the boys were, including Kageyama. He tried to act indifferent, but he was also listening in on the conversation ernestly. 

"Shiratorizawa."

"W-what?" The boy exclaimed together at Sakura's monotone answer. After they were just discussing how dificult it is to get into that school and she was acting as though it was nothing. They all knew that she was in advanced classes, but just how smart is this girl to think that getting into Shiratorizawa was nothing to freak out over?

Tanaka jumped at her, "So you got into the powerhouse school! Why didn't you say?"

"You didn't ask me." She stated plainly and clicked her tongue, "I got an academic scholarship from them." There was no way that they could think that she got accepted into the school based on a sports scholarship or recommendation. She is by no means a sporty person. Sure she could run fast, like her brother, but she had no power when it came to volleyball or any other sport. She couldn't jump as high as Shōyō, she had a decent amount of stamina, and she has little to no technique. The only good thing that she might have that's good while in a sport is her game sense. Though she'd actually need the athletic ability to apply those strategies. She pursed her lips as she thought back to her short visit to the powerhouse school, "Though it was too far away and I'd have to live on campus if I did chose to go there."

Kageyama eyed her for a moment before scoffing, "And you can't be too far from your doppelganger, huh?"

"I guess," Sakura snippy said already feeling her stomach churn at his tone, "Besides I met a few guys there and they're definitely too annoying to be around. They're probably worse than Tanaka." The second-year blanched at her words and what she was insinuating. Though the others seemed to find it funny.

Daichi and Suga chuckled at her words as the captain asked, "Worse than Tanaka?"

"I know seems impossible, but it's true," she nodded her head as she thought back to the few people that she had the pleasure of meeting on her tour of the school. She supposed that that was another reason why she was glad she followed Shōyō to Karasuno. Then she wouldn't have to deal with those guys. 

"I'm not that bad!" Tanaka exclaimed in offense.

Sakura smirked ever so slightly, obviously enjoying the banter between them all as she huffed in amusement, "Sure, sure."

* * *

After bidding the other team members goodbye, the twins had started their long ride home. Eventually, the Hinata twins had finally gotten home after their journey over the mountain. Surprisingly, the ride home was a tad bit quieter than usual. Most of the time, Shōyō would talk to Sakura about their days. He would rant on and on about a difficult assignment or maybe something Kageyama said to him, but not this time. Sakura was unsure what he was wondering about in that messy brain of his, but she didn't worry about it.

Unknown to her, Shōyō had been mulling over what she had said earlier. She chose to go to Karasuno because of him... As much as he loves having Sakura with him at school... Wouldn't she have wanted to go to Shiratorizawa? It's a far better school in nearly every aspect. He certainly didn't like the idea of not getting to see Sakura every day like usual, but to give up such an amazing opportunity didn't seem all that logical to him. Here he is thinking logically about her actions, isn't he suppose to be the impulsive one? How was he the one thinking logically about this? So their ride was silent beside their heavy breathing and occasional curse from Sakura as she nearly veered off of the road a few times due to her tiredness.

Eventually, they made it home and greeted their mother accordingly as they settled in. "Did you really come to Karasuno because of me?" Shōyō finally asked as they entered the main living area. Their mother was already in the kitchen cooking up late dinner for the twins while Natsu was most likely already in her room asleep. 

"Well, yeah," Sakura stated as if it were the most obvious thing ever as she pulled off her shoes. She looked over to him to see the troubled expression on his face and raised an eyebrow, "Why do you sound upset about that?"

Shōyō tilted his head, "You had the chance to go to a really good school, imouto, but you came to Karasuno..."

"Karasuno is a good school too." She pointed out, already seeing where he was going with this, "It's definitely not on the same level as Shiritorizawa academically or athletically, but you know I don't worry about that stuff. I'd rather be with you than surrounded by a bunch of stuck up strangers at that rich kid school. You know I can't make friends that easily."

Shōyō still had a bit of a bad feeling about this. She gave something up to go with him. It didn't sit right in his stomach. She may have deprived herself of certain things that she wouldn't get at Karasuno. All he wants is for Sakura to be happy just as he is, and if she was sacrificing some things to make _him_ happy, he didn't want her to be held back because of him. "It still would have been a good opportunity-" 

"No," she grunted with a tone that strongly called for the end of the conversation, "I just didn't want to go, okay?" She stomped off to their bedroom with the sick feeling bubbling in her chest. She didn't like how Shōyō was questioning her. How he was pointing out how she dictated her decisions based on what he does. She didn't know if he realized it or not, but he was pointing out how Sakura sacrifices certain things to be with him. She plopped down her bag onto her bed and sighed sadly while biting her bottom lip. "...and I didn't want to be alone." She finally voiced up the real reason why she didn't go to Shiritorizawa, why she gave up the scholarship.

How pathetic was that? She was so unwilling to change, too scared to be separated from her twin, that she gave up a perfect opportunity to go to a prestigious school. She was too _scared_ to be alone and left behind by her brother to make her own decision and go to another school. What would have happened if she _did_ decide to go to Shiritorizawa? Would she and Shōyō have grown distant since they would be away from each other for so long? Would he end up forgetting about her? Would their relationship have been affected? Though she wouldn't chance it. She would not give even the idea of her losing the close bond that she has with her twin a chance to manifest. So she didn't take the offer, she chose to follow Shōyō and make sure that she was right next to him like she was used to.

Sakura huffed at her own patheticness and started to pull out her school work. She needed a distraction, right now. The teen didn't want to think about her own flaws, her inability to make her own decisions that were different from Shōyō's. It was always about Shōyō for her, she never thought about herself. Maybe she should, now that she was in high school. It was a time to reinvent herself! Though until then, she had an English assignment to focus on.

* * *

Sakura laid her head on the desk she was sitting at as she stared at her camera in front of her. The lens glared back at her as if it could see right through her, it could see all of her secrets, all her fears, everything she tried too hard to hide. That might be a reason she hated having her picture taken. She would much rather be behind the lens, to take the picture and capture a moment in time than be the one captured. 

Her cheek was pressed up against the desk as she listened to the excited chatter going on around her. Everyone in the photography club was more than ecstatic to start working on their gallery for this month. People already had ideas about what to do about it. She heard some third-year girl say that she wanted to take photos of her new boyfriend, a second-year said he would like to take pictures of his new pet. A second-year boy said that he wanted to take a picture of his house, which his family had just moved into, and another second-year said they were going to take pictures of the store that their family had just opened up.

Everyone had something, or at least an idea, of what to take a picture of that was related to the idea of "new beginnings" or "rebirth". Yet Sakura didn't have much. All that was new for her was that she started school at Karasuno, yet she felt like that wasn't enough. Sure, if she took a picture of the school and explained why it was new to her, she would probably be original in this idea since she was the only first-year a part of the club. However, it felt so... superficial to her. It was an easy idea for her to grab onto and she wanted her first photo in the gallery to be... _meaningful_.

"Something got you down, Hinata-chan?"

Sakura turned her head to look up to find the president of the photography club, Shimada Emi, standing beside her with a large smile. The brown-haired third-year leaned against the desk the younger girl was sitting at and peered down at her green eyes. Sakura cleared her throat and sat up slightly, "Nothing, senpai. I'm just thinking about what to do for the gallery."

"Ah, yes, I remember the first gallery that I participated in." Shimada sighed in wonder, nearly getting lost in thought about her time as a first-year. Though she shook her head to focus on the present, she waved her hand dismissively, "You don't have to worry about it too much, all right. It's your _first_ one, after all, don't think too hard about it."

Sakura considered her words for a moment before staring down at the camera in front of her, "But isn't that the point, to think hard about what you put in the gallery, to make it meaningful?" She looked back up at Shimada to see that she startled her slightly with her sentiment. She knew that she was right, to some degree. When an artist displays their art, no matter what medium, they always want it to have some sort of deep meaning, right? So why would now be any different?

"Well, I guess yeah, but you really shouldn't stress about it!" Shimada chuckled lightly and scratched the back of her neck, "What I mean is... That what you put into the gallery should be what _you_ find meaningful. Don't worry about if anyone else will think it's meaningful, or if they think it's good." Shimada ruffled Sakura's short hair playfully and sat down on top of the desk. She did her best to try and calm the first-year down. She could already see the frown on her face starting to form and didn't want her kohai to feel down about this. "Only focus on what you want."

The younger girl considered her senpais words and glanced away from her in slight embarrassment, "...What if I don't know what I want to do?"

Shimada considered her struggle for a moment before an idea struck her, "Think simply, what's new to you this year?"

Sakura thought pretty hard about that for a second. High school is new to her, but she really didn't think that was a good enough idea. Other than that, there weren't that many new things apart of her life. Though she supposed there was one thing that was new to her that she had been around for the past few weeks. She pursed her lips, "The volleyball club, I guess."

"There you go!" Shimada exclaimed happily, which caused Sakura to cringe, "You can take a picture of the team or something!"

"But that's not..." Sakura trailed off.

Shimada tilted her head, "Not what?"

"It's not really... mine?" The younger girl sighed and tried to think of what to say about this. It took a moment for her to try and collect her thoughts about it. Shimada is already starting to become a good friend, at least, as close as a friend as Sakura would allow. She didn't want to divulge all that much about her, however, she had a feeling that if she wanted help she needed to at least tell Shimada something. Sakura finally came up with some sort of explanation, "I mean, it's not my team, it's Shōyō's... and I want to take a picture of something that's new to _me_ , you know."

Shimada nodded her head and placed a hand on her chin, "I totally understand." She stared down at her kohai to see the slightly troubled expression on her face. Shimada could tell that there was more to this than Sakura would like to say. She's only known the first-year for a short while, but she has grown to like the girl. The third-year could easily tell that Sakura had trouble with making friends. This was obvious from how Sakura liked to keep to herself and never went out of her way to talk with others. She didn't seem to try and make friends in the club, which Shimada had thought was because everyone else in the club, which was only like five other people, were all second and third years. Still she was glad that she had opened up just a little bit, it warmed her heart to know that Sakura was willing to open up to her, even if it was just a little bit. She smiled softly, "You know, you have a little while to think about this, you don't have to make a decision right here, right now. You can decide this later." She then brightened even more, if that were possible, "When I can't think of what to enter into the gallery, I like to think about the things that I enjoy the most. I love baking! So I take my mind off of photography for a bit and bake cookies or something. Then I can come back to the gallery later with fresh eyes."

"That's actually a good idea..." Sakura thought about it for a moment. Her senpai's words seemed to be good advice. She is overthinking the gallery ever since she was first told the theme of it. Shimada was right, stepping back from the gallery should calm her down and take her mind off of it for a bit. Then once she came back to it later, she might have a better idea of what to do about it.

"So?" Shimada exclaimed in eagerness which broke Sakura out of her thoughts, "What do you enjoy the most?!"

Sakura monotonly answered, "Photography."

Shimada processed that for a moment and blinked, "Hm, anything else?"

"I don't know..." The younger girl slumped down in her chair. She didn't really have any other interests. She always had her focus on Shōyō and what he did, so she didn't have many hobbies. Though really it was just volleyball. Shōyō drowned himself in volleyball the same way Sakura drowned herself in photography. The only other thing that she really ever did was study, but she wasn't sure if she should do that to take her mind off of photography. Shimada was most likely referring to things that would calm her down and relax.

Shimada pursed her lips in thought, "How about we try something different... Why do you like photography?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows in confusion, "Huh?"

"Since you love photography, maybe thinking back to _why_ you like photography, you'd be inspired on what to do for the gallery."

She tilted her head in thought, "I guess that could work."

"Great!" Shimada smiled brightly and jumped up in excitement. She was extremely glad that she was able to help her precious kohai in her troubles. The third-year could only hope that Sakura came to her again if she needed any help 

Sakura huffed in amusement as the corners of her lips lifted slightly, "Thanks, senpai." She found it quite funny how excited Shimada was getting about this. She seems like such a kind person, and Sakura was glad that she had Shimada around to talk with. Maybe... just maybe, Sakura could confide in Shimada a bit more. A friend. Perhaps Shimada Emi could become Sakura's first true friend.

Shimada's smile was a warm as the sun, which may or may not has helped Sakura feel secure. "No problem, Hinata-chan!"

Soon enough, the club came to an end, and Sakura and the few other club members bid each other goodbye. Shimada locked up the club room while Sakura was the last the leave and headed towards the gym where her brother was. Just like any other day, she would have to wait for Shōyō to finish up his volleyball practice before she would have to head home. No matter how much she argued that she could do it on her own, Shōyō would not let his sister ride her bike home alone. Curse her protective older brother! 

Though on her walk to the gym, Sakura started to wonder about the gallery. She thought back to what Shimada had suggested being inspired for the event. Why does she like photography so much? Well, at face value she would say she likes capturing a moment in time, whether it's good or bad. To keep that moment in time forever encased in a photo has fascinated her since she was little. Well, it's fascinated her since the beginning of middle school. 

As she walked through the chilly air, she remembered the first moment she held a camera and took a picture. The more she thought about it, she sighed heavily as she remembered who had gotten her into photography. She didn't know the woman's name, and yet she had impacted Sakura's life that it was laughable. It was a one-time meeting, but it changed the course of Sakura's understanding of life so much. 

It gave her a hobby to have, something that Shōyō didn't have. It was her _own_. She supposed this was the first time that she got the idea of being different from her brother. Sure, back then she didn't look identical to her twin, but even then she never left his side. This was the first time she got a taste of individuality. She finally had something to call her own that didn't involve Shōyō at every moment. 

So maybe the reason that she like photography was because of how it was one of the only differences between her and Shōyō. It gave her an identity that she could have for herself. Though how would she show that in a photo? As Shimada had said, she doesn't have to think about how a photo's meaning would be seen by others, instead just focus on how it was meaningful to her.

She was broken out of her thoughts when she finally made it to the gym to find the boys still practicing. Lazily strolling in, she greeted Kiyoko and Takeda before sitting and waiting for the practice to end. Sakura watched the boys continue to practice their receives, blocks, and spikes. Shōyō's skills really showed on this team, she thought. Her brother was fast and could jump high, however, she knew that he lacked in some things like blocking and serving. Though even if he wasn't the best all-around player, Sakura was happy for him. To have this team, these guys to help him improve his skills was all she ever wanted for her brother. Well, that and the ability to play as many games as he could. In her seat against the wall, if the boys had been paying attention, they would have noticed the small smile on her face as she watched Shōyō get yelled at by Kageyama.

Sure, it was a good thing to want your sibling to succeed, especially with such a close relationship that the twins had. However, to completely focus on your sibling and not even think about yourself was a bit problematic. Though now, she was going to fix that now that they were high schoolers. She wants to be different, she wants to be her own person. So to do that, she'll focus on her photography. To do that, she has to find her inspiration from why she likes photography. She'll figure that out soon enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right. So this chapter is much longer than any of the others. Like seriously over 30 pages, dang. Anyway, I feel like a bit of it seems kind of weird since it took me so long to write it. Like I wrote some of this chapter weeks ago and to come back to it afterward feels kind of weird, you know. That probably sounds weird... But it does feel good to actually write and upload a chapter!
> 
> Sakura is certainly going to start trying to find her own identity going forward! She is certainly going to try and find out who she is instead of just "Shōyō's twin". I can't wait to show just how she will go about doing that, and also her struggle to actually do it. And the next chapter will be original, and not anything that is in the anime. It will be a flashback for Sakura! Can't wait for that!
> 
> Well, hopefully, I can keep uploading as usual and things will be more consistent going forward. Let me know what you thought of this chapter! Until the next chapter, my friends!


	8. Parkside Blossoms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a while to make. It is the first full original chapter in this series, and I wanted to make sure that it was really good. Hope this is good!

**HINATA SAKURA WAS ALWAYS PLASTERED TO THE** side of her twin brother. No matter where her ten-year-old brother was, you would no doubt find Sakura right by his side joining in on whatever he was doing. They never strayed far from each other which most people found to be quite endearing. A pair of adorable looking twins who loved each other to not want to be a part was quite cute. The only time that they were seen apart was during classes since Sakura was in a more advanced class than her brother.

People viewed Sakura as the more responsible Hinata sibling when compared to each other. Shōyō, despite being the older of the two, was by far the far more childish and extremely troublesome. He got into trouble a bit, not intentionally, of course, he wasn't a delinquent after all. Even if they are only junior high students, Sakura was quite mature for her age. She was there to try and keep her brother out of trouble, though it never usually worked. The younger twin liked to blame his moronic nature for his knack to cause trouble. She jokes that she got all the academic genes while Shōyō got the athletic genes. Which is why the twins weren't that alike.

Despite the fact that she tended to hide some of her emotions from time to time she's still... well, a child. At times she can't help her childish naivety or curiosity no matter what she might feel. That included her childish stubbornness to not want to go outside. Shōyō loves going outside to play with friends, no matter what it was. He has an insane amount of energy all the time, which he liked to express through running around playing whatever he felt like. Sakura didn't want to be outside, she'd rather be indoors doing something she liked. Maybe studying, or reading, just something that didn't involve physical exercise.

That was why she was dragging her feet while she followed after her twin and his friends while heading to the park. She had been forced, once again, to spend time with a few other children who had wanted to play soccer at their local park. Of course, she couldn't really argue all that much, since she wanted to be right besides Shōyō and all. She had no choice but to go.

So here she was, sitting on the grass as her brother and his friends ran around laughing and playing with each other. Sakura didn't mind watching them, she didn't mind being included. She's not that athletic or anything, so it's not like she'd be any help in a game or that she would enjoy it. Shōyō has talked her into racing a few times since both of them are pretty fast, but that was the extent of what she would do. She would much rather not play any sort of sport, unless Shōyō asked her to, then she'd have no choice.

She idly picked at the blades of grass in boredom. The slightly warm wind brushed over her like a soft blanket as she watched her brother run around laughing. It brought a smile to herself to see her brother having fun. Even at this young age, Sakura knew all she wants is for her brother to be happy no matter what. 

Just as she was thinking of her brother's happiness, a pink cherry blossom floated right into Sakura's face and placed itself on her button-like nose. Her brown eyes crossed as she stared at the sudden flower on her face. The snap of a camera drew her attention away from the petal on her nose.

The young girl looked up to find a young woman who looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. She was of average height, with nice tan skin and dainty hands that held a camera. The woman smiled sheepishly with her pearly white teeth, "Sorry, it just landed so perfectly, I had to take a picture."

Sakura tilted her head and glanced down at the camera that was in the black-haired woman's hands. Apparently, while a blossom had landed on her nose, the woman had taken a picture of her. Sakura shrugged her small shoulders, "that's fine I guess," she eyed the woman with squinted eyes, "a bit creepy though."

"Ah, I didn't mean to be creepy!" The woman insisted as she knelt down to the young girl's height. Sakura was drawn into her gaze as her shiny blue eyes reflected in the afternoon sun. They looked like crystal pools of water, and Sakura thought that they were very pretty. The stranger smiled, "Though it is a really good picture, do you want to see?"

"Hm," Sakura pursed her lips, "since it's of me... I guess."

The woman chuckled and pulled off her camera from around her neck. Sakura leaned over curiously to take a look at the woman's camera and found that it displayed an image of herself. She didn't like it all that much. The woman obviously knew how to take a good photo, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that Sakura didn't like how stupid she looked in the photo. Her crossed eyes just looked far too silly and her appearance just wasn't something that she liked overall. Sakura's long orange hair looked like a mess and her cheeks were far too pale for her liking. While the woman may have had good photography skills, the subject of the photo was subpar.

"You look quite cute," the woman giggled while showing Sakura the photo. 

Sakura huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, "if you say so."

The woman eyed Sakura for a moment. It seemed like she was easily able to pick up on how Sakura didn't like her appearance in the photo. She thought that perhaps Sakura just wasn't used to being photographed or that she didn’t enjoy being photographed. The woman smiled gently, "have you used a camera like this before?"

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed at the question, "no... why?"

"Why not give it a try!" The woman brightened and took the camera from around her neck, "Here." She plopped the camera into Sakura's hands and stood up straight to push the girl forward, "Come take some pictures of these flowers!" Sakura eyed the strange woman uneasily for a moment. She knew not to talk to strangers, especially one who was as bubbly and inclusive as this woman was. Though she had been talking to her all this time... and nothing bad had come from it. So maybe it was all right. Sakura shrugged her shoulders as she looked over the digital camera in her hands. Why the woman had just handed over this very expensive looking camera to a child who could easily break it was unknown to Sakura. It was quite obvious that this woman was not the smartest person around. Though Sakura did as the woman suggested and lifted the camera and pointed it at a tree. She took a photo of it which caused its lens to shutter. For some reason, Sakura really liked the sound of it. She stared down at the photo for a moment, as she seemed to be amazed at what she had been able to do. The woman even seemed surprised, "Wow! You're a natural!"

This continued for a while longer. Sakura took plenty of photos with the woman's camera and was given a few tips on how to do certain things. The woman even convinced Sakura to let her take a few photos of Sakura by the cherry blossom trees. Sakura eyed the camera for a moment before turning up to the woman. Her large brown eyes, now wide in wonder and brimming with curiosity. Sure, Sakura has seen photographers before and cameras and such, however, seeing this woman, the photos that she was able to take just interested Sakura so much. "Miss?" Sakura stared at her with quite an important question burning on her mind. "Why do you like this so much?" She wanted so badly to why this woman liked being a photographer. The woman just seemed to like doing this a lot, and this is what Sakura had wanted. She wanted to have a skill that she could call her own, and if this woman said that she was good at photography then maybe she could make this a new hobby of hers.

"What? Taking photos?" Sakura nodded, the woman pursed her lips and thought for a moment, "Hm, well, I guess I like it because I get to capture a moment in time. A small moment that could be extremely meaningful to me or someone else. It doesn't have to be meaningful to everyone, but as long as I believe that it has significant value to myself, then I want to be able to have that snapshot of life forever."

Sakura considered the idea for a moment. It was an interesting way to look at it. She never really thought about it necessarily like that, since she just thought photos would just be memories and such. Though she never would have put so much thought into who would find a photo meaningful. Photos of families do hold meaning, but what about the ones of just scenery or an inanimate object? Who would find those meaningful? Why would they be meaningful? Though the idea of capturing a moment in time, not just of people, but of things around them and holding them in a still moment of time seemed so intriguing to Sakura. Such an interesting idea, that she was starting to like the idea of photography more and more. 

"Imouto!!" The two turned to find that Shōyō had shouted out towards his slightly younger sister. It seemed like he had finished playing with his friends as he came running over to her.

Seeing as Shōyō would most likely want to leave after this, Sakura returned the camera to the woman's hands. Though once she let go of the camera, her hands felt a bit fidgety without it in her grasp. It seemed like she had gotten used to the feeling of the camera in her hands, and now that it was gone she just felt strange without it. Sakura pursed her lips, "Thanks, I guess."

"No worries," The woman smiled and began to bounce off to continue taking photos of whatever she liked. "Bye!" 

Shōyō zoomed up to Sakura and tilted his head after the person who his sister had been talking to. "Who was that?"

Her eyes widened as she looked after the woman, though she was only able to catch a fleeting flicker of her black-hair before she was completely gone. "Ah, I didn't get her name..." Sakura's eyes then brightened as she jumped on the balls of her feet, "Though she had a camera and she let me take pictures with it!"

"Really?" His enthusiasm started to grow at the sight of Sakura becoming giddy. This usually happened. When Sakura becomes excited or happy, which happens only about once a day, Shōyō feeds off of it. It was kind of like powering up a battery, there was no doubt that they weren't going to run out of energy for a while.

Sakura nodded her head rapidly with her large smile, "Yeah! The photos she took were so much better than mine, but I think I did a good job."

"That's so cool!" His eyes sparkled at Sakura, "Do you think we can convince Okaasan to get you a camera?!"

"We can try!" The two orange-haired twins then bounded off together to head back home. No doubt they would instantly start pestering their poor mother about what Sakura had found out. Also the fact that she would like a camera now for her new found interest. Though there was no doubt that their mother would be happy that Sakura has found something to be interested in that didn't just involve her brother.

* * *

From that moment forward, Sakura became obsessed with photography. She asked her mother for a camera which she eventually got as a birthday present. Once she had a camera of her own, she brought it with her everywhere. She took photos of buildings, plants, people, or anything she found interesting. 

Sakura started to become more invested in her new hobby. Every day she took as many photos as she could. Then she would happily show them to her family, who praised her for her good work. It felt so nice to her. To have this one thing, something that she could do that didn't always have to involve Shōyō at every moment. Sure, she still didn't stray far from his side, like usual, but she could still do this without having to look out for him at every moment. 

Eventually, by the time Shōyō had gained his own obsession with volleyball, Sakura was well into her photography hobby. She became quite skilled with her camera and her mother made her the designated photographer for things like holidays and birthdays, which she thoroughly enjoyed. This is also where she grew to become a tad bit sadistic. Most of the photos that she ended up taking were of Shōyō getting hurt some way or another while trying to practice volleyball.

Up until this point, Sakura had never really thought of showing anyone else her photos. She may enjoy photography, but she was still insecure about what other people would think of what she could do. After all, she was just Shōyō’s twin who did everything with him. Sakura wasn’t anything else except his shadow, so who would care if she decided to do something that _didn’t_ involve her brother.

It would have been a good idea, considering it would have been a chance to possibly make friends. Though Sakura decided not to. She was in no way able to make friends on her own, so she didn't think that she would be able to share her hobby with others. Despite all that, here she was, standing in front of a door in her junior high as she anxiously fiddled with her fingers for a moment. 

Just beyond that door was the yearbook club. Since their school didn’t have a photography club, this was the closest that she could get to having an outlet for her hobby. Considering it was her third-year in junior high, she didn't have that long before heading off to high school. So, wanting to venture out of her comfort zone for the first time ever, Sakura had thought about actually joining a club. Her chest was tight while she bounced on the balls of her feet slightly. She didn't know how people would react to her wanting to join the club, however, they would be nice, right? Gaining a new club member must be a good thing, so they couldn't just dismiss her or anything. 

_"They're awesome, imouto!"_ She recalled her twin's words earlier that day when she expressed her worry to him. _"They'll really like them!"_

She took a deep breath at the reminder of her brother's reassuring words. Ever since she had thought about joining the club and told Shōyō about it, he had been extremely supportive of the idea. And he was right, her photos were decent, and people would surely like them. Besides, even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter, right? It would be fine if they didn't like them. Maybe they truly weren't good and Sakura could use this as an opportunity to improve whatever photography skills she had. So everything would be fine, she tried to calm herself down, talking to others about her hobby would be a good thing for her! Maybe she'll even make a few new friends through this.

With that thought in mind, Sakura raised a shaky fist to knock on the door. Her nerves were sky-high at the moment, though she pushed through any apprehension that she had and swallowed hard. She had done this for a reason, and she wasn't going to back out now! ...Even if she was becoming extremely anxious at the moment.

There was a short moment where all Sakura could hear was her beating heart in her ears before the door opened up. A boy with large, round glasses opened up the door and peered down at Sakura questioningly. She knew this boy, Sato Hitoshi, who was in her class and considered to be one of the smartest boys in their grade. Though there was no way that he could truly be the best, considering Sakura was his competition for the spot, and she had been on top for the past three years. This was probably why the boy was staring down at her with narrowed eyes. It was blatantly obvious that he disliked her solely on the fact that she was smarter than him. 

He was, by far, much taller than Sakura, as he was on the taller end of the students with a head of black hair and dull blue eyes. Sato pin-pointed her in her spot, and for a short moment, Sakura was scared at his judgemental stare, "Hinata."

"Sato," Sakura nodded her head at him and peeked around him to see into the club room, "this is the yearbook club, right?"

The boy clicked his tongue, "yes, and what do you want?"

From the slight bite in his tone, Sakura could already tell that this wasn't going to be as easy as she had thought. She fiddled with her camera and glanced off to the side, "I uh... I was wondering if I could join."

"Join?” The boy scoffed and pushed his glasses up his nose, “You want to join the club?"

Sakura swallowed slightly, "Yes... I-"

He cut her off, "Do you even know how to use a camera?"

"Well, yes." Sakura dully said as she motioned to the camera around her neck. "I have my own camera and I’ve been taking photos for a while now-”

Once again she was cut off by the snarky boy, “Then why haven’t you joined the club yet?”

Slowly but surely, Sakura was starting to become quite frustrated with Sato. Though that’s nothing new. She was used to having his jealousy clouding around her like a fog, it was almost always unavoidable. The only time that she could get away from Sato and his stupidly petty jealousy was breaktime when she’d go off to find her brother to eat with. Sakura knew how frustrated Sato was with her, as he’s made it clear plenty of times. He hated how Sakura could easily get good grades while seemingly having no motivation. He was jealous of how Sakura seemed to do nothing, and yet get the top spot in their class as the smartest student. 

Of course, this wasn’t true, as Sakura studied at any chance she could. Did she retain information easier than some people? Yes. Does that mean she didn’t have the motivation for her academic career? No, of course not. She just thought that it was all so stupid.

“I never thought to,” Sakura shrugged her shoulders, “Though I decided to try this year.”

Sato glowered down at her though there was a smug smile on his face. “Hm, and let’s see what the great Hinata clone is capable of with a camera.” He then grabbed Sakura’s camera from around her neck abruptly and began flipping through the photos on them.

Sakura tried to grab the camera back, but the boy just used his height to his advantage. “Hey-!” She jumped and tried to take it back only to be pushed back by Sato who continued to look through the photos.

His eyebrows twitched as he looked through the photos. They ranged from photos of scenery or her family, and they were all so… _good_. Even if they were taken by a junior high schooler, they looked quite professional. Once again, that envy was building up in his gut. Not only was this short orange-haired girl smarter than him, but she was also a better photographer! He laughed bitterly, “These? Do you call these good?”

Sakura bristled, “Yes-”

“Ah,” Sato smirked and leered down at Sakura with narrowed eyes. “It seems like we’ve finally found something that Hinata Sakura sucks at! I mean, these are _terrible_!”

Even if she didn’t necessarily like Sato, Sakura still respected some things that he did. He is the second smartest person in their grade, and he had some good opinions that Sakura could agree with while in class. So for a moment, she was doubting her skills. If he was saying that they were terrible… were they really that bad? “They are…?”

Sato snickered snarkily, already seeing how he was slowly breaking down Sakura’s self esteem. “I feel kind of bad for you,” he shoved the camera back into Sakura’s hands. “You can’t even see how these photos are so mediocre. Well, I don’t think we need someone so horrible at photography in the club.” He sneered and walked Sakura out of the doorway, “We need people who _actually_ have skill.” Sakura clenched her jaw in doubt while staring down at the camera in her hands. Was she really that bad at photography to not even be allowed in the _photography_ club? Had her family been lying about her photos? Just saying they were good in order to not hurt her feelings? No… Maybe. Her family were just too nice sometimes, so maybe this was one of these times. “Stick to what you’re good at, being you twins stupid shadow.”

It was quiet for a while before she swallowed hard, “Right.” 

Should she have taken what he said to heart? Probably not. He was easily using this situation to exploit the one thing that Sakura couldn’t really help; self-doubt. She was already self conscious about her newest hobby because she wasn’t used to having something that was her own. So she doubted whether or not she was actually good at it. To hear someone she had just a small amount of respect for say that she was doing terrible certainly had shook her.

Without saying anything else, Sakura shuffled away from a far too smug Sato, who was more than happy that he had put Sakura down, even just a bit. So he just waltzed back into the club room, satisfied to have undermined Hinata Sakura in something. 

A heavy heart rested in Sakura’s chest as she lumbered down the hall. She felt like hiding, at least for a little bit. It was only the opinion of one person, but it still hurt her. Technically, he is the first person to see her pictures outside of her family. So for him to act like that and say that about her photography skills, she started to question herself. What if other people say the same? She could understand having criticism given about her photos, but what if someone else just said the same thing about them? Could she handle that? Sakura likes to think that she’s strong, mentally and physically(though she actually isn’t physically strong). Though there are moments of vulnerability from time to time. Being away from Shōyō does that to her, she couldn’t help it.

Though was it a surprise when her eyes started to become blurry and her nose started to run? Maybe. Sakura isn’t an emotional person, so for her to start crying over this meant that it affected her far more than she originally thought. The first time that she tried to be her own person and she’s belittled for it. She couldn’t get away from it, the reputation that she had. She’s just Shōyō’s shadow. Nothing else.

Eventually, Sakura finally came to a stop with her wandering. She settled down on a bench just outside her school and wallowed in her own pity. Her mind was racing with so many doubts and she felt like she was drowning. She’s never felt like this before. The weight in her stomach was just so… she couldn’t even describe it. Long story short, she felt heartbroken to think that people wouldn’t think that what she thought was good.

Though in the middle of her darkness, there was a shining light. “Imouto?” The sun was rising and lighting up the decrepit space that she had been dragged into. She looked up to find a matching pair of large brown eyes looking down to her. “Imouto, what are you doing out here?” Shōyō asked as he looked down at his twin. He had just been heading to the gym for his own practice and found Sakura sitting outside staring off into space. Since he didn’t know what had happened, the smile that he had on his face felt a bit mocking to his sister. “Did you go to the yearbook club? Did they like your photos?! I bet they did!”

Sakura quickly wiped her eyes to get rid of her tears. The last thing she needed was for Shōyō to see that she had been crying, he certainly would cause a fuss if he saw that. She swallowed and plastered on a faux smile, “I couldn’t find them. I guess they ended the club early today.”

Shōyō fell for her facade quite easily, he was idiotic enough to do so. He sat next to her with a questioning expression. “Are you still going to join the club?”

“No, I don’t think I’ll join.” Sakura instantly answered. She was in no way going to get in that club, or that she even wants to be in it. Her one time to leave her comfort zone was not a good experience. She just smirked slightly, “I’d rather be around you to take pictures of you getting hurt trying to play volleyball.”

Shōyō bristled, “I don’t always get hurt!”

“Most of the time you do,” Sakura chuckled while standing up from her spot and started to walk off. Shōyō quickly followed after, trying to dispute what Sakura had said about him getting hurt. Though it was true, Shōyō gets hurt quite easily while playing volleyball.

They then ventured off to the gym, where Shōyō would work on practicing with the girl’s team like he always does. Sakura didn’t want to burden her brother with the fact that she had been turned away and made fun of for her photographs. She would much rather keep it to herself than have Shōyō upset because of something as silly as her bruised feelings. Besides, it was her job to look out for him, not the other way around. Besides, why would she want to admit that she was pathetic enough to be so hurt by one simple encounter? She’s not the emotional twin, she’s the mature and responsible twin. Sakura couldn’t let herself get upset so easily after just one person’s opinion. She isn’t that fragile, or at least she won’t let people think that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, so now we see why Sakura doesn't usually like showing people her pictures. I think you'll find that Sakura eventually overcame her anxiety with showing others her photos by the time she's in high school since she joins the photography club. In the first few chapters, that's pretty obvious. However, I think that's because she's become far more blasé about everything. What Sato had said to her shook her quite a bit and helped push her to be the more emotionless high schooler she is now. There'll definitely be more exposition and explanation going forward.
> 
> I actually liked writing this chapter since I finally got to write some early life of Sakura. It's fun! Let me know what you thought of it! Until the next chapter, bye, my friends!


	9. He Who Is Called ‘Ace’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My cousin found out that I created Sakura... It was actually kind of funny. He's not really an anime guy, but he found out about me making an OC who loves photography, and since he's a photography teacher, he wanted to know more about said character. So here we are, me slightly embarrassed that he read my terrible writing yet happy that he thought she is a good character. Now, if I can get him to watch Haikyuu, he'll understand this story better!
> 
> Also, I finally started second semester like last week. Things are a bit easier to handle because I have one less class to worry about, and only one in-person class. It's pretty easy to manage at the moment, so I'm thinking of writing a whole bunch. Though take that with a grain of salt. I have lost a bit of motivation to write some, mainly for my Harry Potter series and my Marvel series since I haven't written them in a while. Though I'm hoping to get back into them after having a marathon of both movie franchises... which will take me a while. Although, like... Wandavision, I just- I- It's so fricken AWESOME! About halfway through and my mind was blown in the first episode!! Okay, I shouldn't rant about that right now...
> 
> *Cough* Shameless self-promo *cough* I just posted a bunch of glass art paintings over this week on my Etsy; JJStudiosDesign. Check them out if you wanna see what I make. They ain't the best, but I'm learning!
> 
> Well, I'm pretty happy with this chapter since it's so long, about 35 pages. Took me a while to actually get it done, and I'm happy with how it came out! So I hope you like it!

**“ARE YOU EVER GOING TO EXPLAIN IT** to us?” Suga asked Endo as he, Daichi, Tanaka, and Endo walked through the halls towards the second gym for practice. Ever since the quartet met up, they had been pestering Endo about his connection to Oikawa. Nobody had let it go after their practice game. How could they? It was always interesting to know some juicy tidbit about Endo. While Endo loved getting into other people's drama, he never really told anyone his own drama. So the guys just wanted to get a little information on him.

Even though Endo has been on the volleyball team for the past three years, no one on the team could really say that they knew Endo. Well, there was _one_ person, but he wasn't here right now. They didn't know his past. He rarely talked about his family, his life in his home country, or his ambitions for the future. So seeing as this was an opportunity they could find out about some aspect of his past through his interactions with Oikawa, they were going to take it.

Endo shrugged his shoulders with a smirk, "There's not that much to explain."

"You know that stupid Oikawa!" Tanaka growled, "You owe us an explanation!"

Endo hummed with a smirk, "Hm, I find the mystery of this far more appealing than just telling you my secrets."

If Tanaka had hair, he would be pulling on it right now. He gritted his teeth at the smug bastard next to him, "You're so infuriating!" Endo just laughed loudly at Tanaka's plight as his eyes glowed arrogantly.

Daichi rolled his eyes, "I'm guessing you two went to school together."

"Oh, boo." Endo stuck his tongue out at his friend with narrowed eyes. His happy expression morphing into one of annoyance. "Daichi, always here to ruin my fun."

Suga nodded his head in understanding, disregarding Endo's glower at their captain. "I see. You and Oikawa must have gone to the same junior high

"Elementary, actually. I couldn't go to Kitagawa," Endo rolled his eyes and clenched his jaw. Any hint of amusement had been drained away as his eyes grew cold. " _F_ _ather_ would never let me go anywhere except Mustafa." The resentment in his words was quite clear. He seemed to hold some sort of dislike for his father and the fact that he had gone to the prefecture's most expensive private school. The others of course knew how the blonde disliked his father, though that was just the tip of the iceberg. There was far more drama that they didn't know. The only one who did had already run away from the club, so there wasn't anyone there to really understand everything that Endo has gone through.

Suga blew a raspberry, "Rich boy gets to go to all the fancy-schmancy schools." Mustafa is a private middle school. It is extremely prestigious and not just anyone can get into it. The school is much like Shiritorazawa Academy Junior High since it was expensive to get into. Well, it was probably even more expensive to get into, especially because it is in Tokyo and not Miyagi. If anything, even if someone got into the school after passing the entrance exams, they would still have to shell out thousands of dollars just for a single year at the school. So it's reserved for the rich of the rich the top one percent really.

The team always teased Endo for the fact that his family was wealthy. It was an unavoidable fact that Endo was quite well off financially. Not only that, but Endo tended to like flaunting his wealth quite a bit. Whether that was having the newest phone, designer clothes, or even a nice car. Out of any family in Miyagi, the Endo family was probably the wealthiest in the prefecture. The team liked to make a joke out of it sometimes. Though it could be annoying when Endo would constantly become extremely arrogant because of his wealth, but they made up for it by teasing him from time to time. They'd bring him back down to Earth when his ego inflated too much.

"Yes, it makes me wonder why I ever decided to come to Karasuno." Endo sighed as if truly saddened by his own choice in school. "I hate having to slum around with you peasants."

Tanaka bristled, just about ready to jump his upperclassmen, "Why you-!"

Though before he could do that, Endo placed a hand on his face to stop him from attacking. Tanaka just threw his arms around trying to hit the blonde, but Endo's long arms kept him at bay. Unconcerned with his younger teammate, Endo eyed the entrance of the gym after catching a glimpse of someone that he hadn't seen in nearly a month. It was a small ball of energy that certainly wasn't Hinata-kun, as this boy had black hair instead. Though once he caught a clear look of the famed libero, he bounded into the gym happily. "Is that who I think it is?"

The Guardian Deity turned to see the other members of the club come into the room. His dazzling smile seemed to widen even further, "Endo!"

The other teens came into the gym where Kageyama and Hinata had been practicing. Nishinoya Yuu, Karasuno's Guardian Deity, had seemingly interrupted their session, just as chaotically as he usually is.

"Hey!" Tanaka shouted out happily, "Noya-san."

Noya returned the same amount of joy at the sight of his fellow second-year, "Hey, Ryu."

"Nishinoya," Daichi greeted the short boy.

"Hey!"

The captain walked over to them and turned to the first-years, "let me introduce you. This is Nishinoya, a second-year."

Endo walked over and placed a hand on the smaller teen's head. He hummed in thought as he seemingly measured Noya's height. "Wow, Noya. You've been gone for nearly a month and you still haven't gotten any taller." _Still the shortest on the team, how sad that must be,_ Endo thought. He couldn't relate.

Noya bristled and jumped at Endo. The two started to brawl with each other. "And you still don't have any manners, huh?!" The libero shouted out in anger while the blond cackled while dodging Noya's hands. The little demon was no match for Endo's quick reflexes and tall height.

"Don't talk to your precious senpai like that, my little kohai." Endo purred while grabbing Noya and lifting him up in the air. He trapped Noya's arms to his side, effectively stopping the small boy's attack. Though Noya's short legs wiggled in the air as he continued to fight against his capture. The older teen clicked his tongue, "you certainly have turned into a delinquent since you've been gone."

Daichi then chopped the back of Endo's neck, forcing him to drop Noya and yell out in pain. "Okay, okay you two. Calm down before I shut you both up."

"Yessir," both teens grunted out, Endo now nursing the new bruises on his neck.

Noya then turned to the younger boys who stared at the display, confused. "Hey! You guys are first-years, huh?" He then pointed at Kageyama, "You, the guy that was serving! The tall guy with the nasty glare. What junior high are you from?"

Kageyama stared for a moment before answering, "Kitagawa Daiichi."

"Seriously?" Nishinoya gaped now jumping in his spot, "That's school's for champs! No wonder you serve like that. I lost to them 2-to-1 when I played against them in middle school. They had someone who could deliver even better serves!"

The third-years stared at the bouncing energy ball with hollow expressions, "Noisy as ever." They did miss their precious libero, but his chaotic energy was definitely something they could probably go without.

"What junior high were you at, Nishinoya-san?" Kageyama questioned his senpai.

Nishinoya answered him with a shout, "Chidoriyama!"

He was also in awe at the answer, "That's a strong school. Why did you come to Karasuno? Because you heard coach Ukai was coming back?"

"No... I came to Karasuno because..." He paused for dramatic effect, making it out as if he had a profound reason for choosing this specific school. Though it wasn't that extreme of a reason, "Because I like the girls' uniform. Intensely. And the girls have lived up to my expectations. And above all..." He pulled on his blazer, "because of the boy's uniform. In black! I wore a blazer in junior high, so I admire this uniform. It's not brown or grey, but black!"

"I know what you mean," Tanaka agreed with a large smile.

"Karasuno has black uniforms, and the girl's uniform is cute. The school's close to home. It was a no-brainer." Just at that moment, a tall dark-haired beauty came walking into the gym. Nishinoya's eyes grew wide with hearts in them as he spied the third-year manager. He took off into a sprint and launched himself at the poor girl, "Kiyoko-san! I've come to see you!" She shouted out in surprise and Noya found himself at the receiving end of a harsh slap. 

Endo laughed loudly as Nishinoya now laid on the ground with a handprint on his cheek, "Rejected!"

Daichi chuckled, "He's like a hurricane, as usual."

Shōyō stared in surprise at the display, "A horny tornado."

"Quite the noisemaker, isn't he?" Their captain laughed, "Yet when he plays, he's surprisingly... quiet."

Nishinoya collected himself, sending one more glare at Endo who continued to laugh at his blunder. He turned to everyone with his smile, "And? Where's Asahi-san? Did he come back?"

Everyone held their breath for a moment. The dreaded question was something that none of the upperclassmen really wanted to tell him. Endo's laughter came to a halt at the question, at the reminder. The older club members looked away from him. "No..."

Nishinoya processed the muttered answer before gritted his teeth. Slowly but surely the group eyed his fist shaking slightly as he clenched them in frustration. "That coward!"

"Hey, Noya!" Tanaka exclaimed at the disrespect, "Don't talk like that about your senpai!"

"Shut up!" Noya just about screamed, "A coward is a coward. If Asahi-san's not coming back, neither am I."

Tanaka called out to him as Noya spun around and marched out of the gym, "Hey, Noya!"

The gym was quiet and awkward for a moment after their libero stomped off. The air was thick and nearly choked each boy as they stood there watching the smallest club member walk off. They knew that talking about their missing member would upset Noya. It upset them all that Asahi had yet to come back.

Endo cleared this throat and made sure that his face was devoid of any negative expression. "What did I say, a delinquent. Talking bad of his upperclassmen, I wonder where he learned that." Trying to defuse the tension, he chuckled and looked down at Kageyama and Hinata. Obviously hiding the fact that Noya's departure had upset him just a little bit. His fake smile was plastered on his face, trying to hide his true feelings on this matter. "Don't take after him, Kageyama, Hinata-kun. Always respect your amazing senpais, okay!"

Suga deadpanned, "I don't think taking your advice is a good idea either, Endo."

* * *

Meeting up with the photography club was slowly becoming something that Sakura enjoyed. It may be away from Shōyō, but it was slowly becoming a safe space for her. Not only that, but she was also making friends. The upperclassmen who were a part of the club were slowly but surely becoming close acquaintances of hers. She wasn't exactly friends with them, but she got along with them easily and could have good conversations with them. There were only four other members besides herself and Shimada; one other third-year and three second-years. Sakura didn't talk to them outside of the club(mainly because they were her upperclassmen and she didn't see them that often), but they had a nice enough relationship.

It also helped that everyone in the club was supportive. In the beginning, Sakura was so hesitant to show them her photos. However, they got her to open up enough for her to show them at least some of her work. From then on, they found how Sakura was so new to getting compliments and was quite shy to show others. So they showered her with compliments and good-hearted constructive criticism whenever they could. Instead of trying to tear her down, like some assholes, they would rather see her improve.

Currently, the club was ending a tad bit earlier than usual. It was coming up soon; the first gallery of the year. Just next week, Sakura would have to enter a photo into the gallery. Everyone was pretty jittery for it, but knew what they were doing. While Sakura has a better idea of what to do, she just needed to find something she deemed worthy of being in the gallery to represent her. The club president came bouncing over to the first-year with a smile stretched on her face, "So you have an idea of what to do, Hinata-chan?"

"Yeah, I think so," Sakura shrugged her shoulders while placing her camera around her neck. She then pursed her lips, having an internal debate for a moment before coughing. A light tinge of pink came over her cheeks as she spoke in a small voice. "By the way... you can just call me Sakura. So you don't end up confusing Shōyō and me."

Shimada was, Sakura would say, her first friend. At least, her first real friend at Karasuno. So isn't this what friends do? They become friendly, have nicknames for each other and stuff. Sakura has really only had one nickname from Koji and Izumi, who called her "Saku-chan". Nobody necessarily got familiar with her in that way(besides Endo and Tanaka so far), though that may be due to her seeming to be unapproachable. Some people just assume that she's mean or didn't want people to be friends with her. However, she didn't mind if someone called her with such a familiar honorific(unless they were annoying like Endo and Tanaka). Though she did kind of find it embarrassing to say it out loud. She's never gotten close to someone unless they had something to do with Shōyō. Really, Shimada could have kept calling her Hinata since Shimada had yet to even meet Shōyō. So there was no real reason for Shimada to differentiate between the twins by name. However, Sakura was just using it as an excuse to give her... friend the ability to be more familiar with her.

The brown-haired girl cooed and grabbed Sakura in a tight hug, "Aw! You're so cute Hina- I mean Sakura-chan!" Oh, how she loved seeing her little kohai opening up to her even more.

Sakura choked for a moment at the tight grasp on her. She wondered if Shimada was secretly a wrestler or something. The younger teen fought against her for a moment before finally escaping Shimada's gorilla tight grip. She straightened out her uniform and huffed, "Whatever. I'll be going now."

She exited the club room with a final goodbye to all of her fellow club members and started to make her way towards the gym. On her way there, there were two thoughts rolling around in her head. One; the gallery and what she would enter into it. Two; how she was going to let her brother let her ride home alone since all she wants to do is go home at the moment.

While she was stuck in her thoughts, she didn't hear the thudding footsteps running up behind her or the shout, "Hinaaataaa!!"

It was already too late by the time Sakura realized there was someone behind her. She found herself being run into by a boy, a little shorter than her. "Wah!" 

The two tumbled to the ground, with the boy falling on top of Sakura. She grunted at the sudden weight on her while the boy held his head after accidentally hitting it. He laughed joyously, "Oh, sorry, Hinata! I'm just excited a-" He froze with wide eyes after finally opening his eyes to see who he had accidentally tackled. This wasn't Hinata, even if they looked extremely alike. Not only that but she was also wearing the _girl's_ uniform. "...girl?"

"Can you get off?" Sakura deadpanned up at the boy who was still hovering over her, frozen. A few seconds passed without any movement from the teen with black-haired and a tuft of blonde hair right in front of his eyes. He was staring at her in awe and confusion. She then tried again, "Please? Hello?"

He blanched, "I'm sorry, girl Hinata! I would never mean to hurt you ever! I deeply apologize!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Get off."

"I'm sorry!" He then jumped off of Sakura and bowed deeply.

She slowly got up as well, brushing off her uniform before checking to see if her camera was okay. If this boy had damaged her camera in any way, he certainly would have been in a world of hurt. Though she found that it was perfectly fine. Looks like this guy gets to live another day. She huffed, "Stop apologizing, it's all right. You thought I was my brother, right?"

"Hinata didn't say he had a sister!" He exclaimed in surprise.

She stared at him closely with a raised eyebrow, "Who are you?"

The boy puffed out his chest, "I'm Nishinoya Yuu, a second-year! Call me senpai!"

Sakura stared at him blankly, obviously not going to comply with his wish. She could already tell that he had the same chaotic energy as Tanaka. Dealing with the team just got 5x harder, she realized. "You're on the volleyball team, yes?" She studied him for a moment and took in his small build. He was by no means tall, actually, he was shorter than her by maybe a centimeter or two. Unless he could jump like Shōyō, then he would have to be a libero. Not only that, but she spied the small bruises on his arms and suspected that he got them from doing diving receives. "Why do I have a feeling you're Karasuno's Guardian Deity..."

Nishinoya brightened with stars in his eyes. Not only did this girl know who he is already, but she was quite cute too! She wasn't exactly on the same beauty level as Kiyoko, but she was still quite adorable. "You know who I am!"

"Ah," Sakura grunted still eyeing him, "I can see why you're the libero now."

Nishinoya bristled, "Why? Because I'm short!" He huffed, thinking that she was going to make fun of his height. So what he was short?! This may be girl was a bit taller than him, that didn't mean she could make fun of him for it! Even if she is a cute girl!

She shook her head lazily and spoke with a bored tone, "No, because you're quick on your feet. You knocked me down pretty hard too." She tilted her head at him with her eyes large and inquisitive, "I guess being short is just an added bonus."

Nishinoya stared at her for a long moment. Even if she had just called him short, when really she was only taller than him by about a centimeter or so. It almost looked as though he was in a trance as he stared at her. Sakura had thought that he had suddenly short-circuited with the way he became so quiet. Though he did finally speak after a bit, "You're so cute..." He had been completely distracted by the way her large brown eyes had been lit up in the sun rays and her short orange hair swayed in the light wind to say anything else. He may have said that without meaning to, though with this chaotic boy, you never really know what or why he does things.

She bristled slightly as the tips of her ears became red once she registered what he had muttered out. Sakura crossed her arms over her chest as she became embarrassed, "Don't say stuff like that to someone you don't know."

"What is your name, cute girl Hinata!?" He jumped at her and became uncomfortable close to her, ignoring what she had said.

She stared at him for a long moment before muttering out her answer, "...Sakura."

"A cherry blossom!" Nishinoya exclaimed with hearts in his eyes, already knowing what her name meant, "A cute flower!"

Sakura sighed heavily as she started to walk away from the love-stricken second-year. "I'm so done with you volleyball idiots." She then turned to head off to the gym with the boy following after her like a love-sick puppy. _Things were definitely going to become even more annoying_ , she thought.

* * *

For some reason, one that Sakura didn't understand or care to comprehend, the libero wasn't going to play on the team. Apparently, the only reason he was at the practice at the moment was to teach her brother how to receive properly. While she was grateful to know that _someone_ was going to finally teach him the correct technique, she was a bit annoyed that it was from one of the most chaotic boys that she's met. Ever since they had walked to the gym together, Nishinoya made it pretty obvious that he found her extremely adorable. No matter what he said, she always became embarrassed. Sakura has never had someone compliment her so much as he did in the first few minutes of them meeting. So sue her if she becomes easily flustered by the stupid things that Nishinoya said about her. This may be why she had placed herself on the other side of the gym, away from the second-year, hoping that she wouldn't draw his attention and be embarrassed again. The last thing she would want is for the others to see her like that, especially that stupid Tsukishima, he wouldn't let her live it down.

"So, what I'm saying is..." Nishinoya said as he stood in front of the first-years. "You shwoom in, swish together, then thump." He demonstrated a receive as the volleyball hit his forearm perfectly, "See?"

The others just stared at him and then tilted their heads. The way that he was explaining it was going straight over their heads. Nishinoya may be a genius, but he wasn't the greatest teacher. From the sidelines, Tanaka shook his head, "It's impossible to decipher the words of someone who moves on instinct alone."

Endo piped up with a snicker, "I'm pretty sure it's just how morons speak."

"Really?" Kageyama asked from beside them, "I got a good idea of what he meant."

"You've proven my point," Endo flashed him a wolfish smirk. The first-year just bristled at the slight against him. 

The other second-year stared at Kageyama with a disgruntled expression, "You're just like him. Whenever you explain things, you speak in sound effects, like 'oomph' and 'boosh'." He then grumbled, "It's gobbledy-gook to the rest of us."

Sakura had to admit, that Nishinoya is quite a talented volleyball player. He has the raw athleticism that any good athlete should have. That included being quick on his feet, having good technique, and having the advantage of being the shortest on the team. All good qualities of a libero. Though, at the thought that he was a very talented libero, Sakura raised an inquisitive eyebrow. _Why isn't he on the team?_ She wondered, _he's a volleyball idiot just like the others, so why would he not be able to play on the team?_

"Uh, Nishinoya?" Shōyō asked as he walked over to the slightly shorter teen.

His upperclassman turned to him, "Huh?"

"Who is Asahi, the person you mentioned before?" He had just unknowingly opened up a can of worms that surely would bring up some sore spots on the team.

"Idiot!" Tanaka shouted at him from across the gym, "That's the name that must not be spoken!" On the side, Endo shuffled a little bit, uncomfortable, as he knew what was coming. This was a sore topic, for everyone, especially Nishinoya and Endo. Even Sakura could tell that the subject was a bit touchy for them. Her narrowing brown eyes swept over the older teens as she observed how uncomfortable Endo had suddenly come. It was strange to see the pompous boy become quiet like this.

Nishinoya was quiet for a moment, seemingly trying to compose himself. Though he eventually sighed and explained, "He's the Ace of Karasuno, for now."

"'The Ace'?" Shōyō asked in awe.

"Why have you gone dumb?"

The orange-haired teen jumped, stars already beaming in his eyes at even the thought of the positions "I want to be the ace!"

"You wanna be ace with your height?" Nishinoya asked inquisitively, causing the boy to deflate. Great, yet another person who didn't seem to believe that he would make it as an ace due to his height. Though Nishinoya laughed heartily, "I like you! For sure! You wanna do it because it's cool, right? Go for it! You be the ace! You can do it! You have way more promise than our current ace! I guess everyone wants to be the ace."

Shōyō nodded his head rapidly, "Yes, sir! It's cool to be the ace!"

"The word "ace" even sounds cool!" Nishinoya commented, "The words "setter" and "libero" are kinda plain."

To the side, Kageyama glowered slightly at the slander against his position. Seeing his sour look, Suga walked over to his kohai, "Now, now..."

"But one thing that really works up a crowd during a game, better than any amazing spike..." Nishinoya said as the others stared at him, as he started to explain his love for the sport. "They go crazy when a super receive is made! In "tall beats all" volleyball, the libero may be one of the few positions best suited for a short player. However, I do not play the libero position because of my height. I would play libero even if I was 6 feet tall." He said passionately, "Even if you can't spike or block, you cannot lose in volleyball as long as the ball doesn't touch the floor. And the one who does that job best... is the libero."

Shōyō was amazed at Nishinoya's little speech. While he didn't relate entirely since he loves to spike and jump, he understood his adoration for his position. Just like how Nishinoya loves being a libero, Shōyō loves being a spiker and hopefully an ace. "Th-that's so cool!"

"Y-you idiot!" Nishinoya grew flustered at Shōyō's sudden gushing admiration. He waved at the boy to try and hide his embarrassed expression. "You don't have to say it so loud and clear, you! How about two popsicles, in soda and pear flavor?"

"Yessir!"

Sakura laughed lightly at the display. At least now he had a bit of karma for flustering her earlier, she thought. Though she hoped that Nishinoya also got her a popsicle, she actually felt like getting one after practice. Plus, free food is good, no matter what it is, in her opinion. A nice sugary treat will be nice after having to deal with these volleyball idiots. She didn't doubt that he would. From how enamored he seemed with her, Nishinoya would most likely do it. 

Nishinoya then calmed down a bit, "So, Ace Wannabe, what's your special skill? Sure, you may be crap at receives, but I bet you have something."

"I'm, uh..." Shoyo muttered, "a decoy."

Nishinoya stared in confusion, not able to hear what he had said, "You're a duck?"

He sighed, "I'm a decoy."

They were silent for a moment as the older boy stared at Shōyō confused. "Why aren't you more confident when you say that?"

"It sounds kind of boring compared to "ace" and "guardian deity"." Shōyō explained glumly.

Nishinoya shrugged his shoulders, "What it's called has nothing to do with it."

"But..."

He insisted, "If someone can score with a spike thanks to your decoy work, that makes your position as important as the rest of 'em."

His words certainly lifted Shōyō's spirits just a little bit. Even Kageyama agreed with Nishinoya as he nodded his head behind the short teen. Shōyō sighed, "Yes, sir."

Endo then waltzed over to them, a smirk plastered on his face. He rested his elbow on the top of Nishinoya's head, to the libero's annoyance. "You best take his words to heart, little guy!" The blonde third-year laughed loudly, "he may be a delinquent, but he knows what he's talking about... most of the time."

"Endo!" Nishinoya shouted and started to attack his senpai like a scrappy puppy. "Bend down so I can punch you're pretty face!"

"Ooo, Nishi thinks I'm _pretty_."

After a little while, Daichi ended up having to scold the two like the overworked father that he is. Meanwhile, just about everyone else was laughing at the display. Including Tsukishima and Sakura. The entire team was almost complete. All they were missing was their ace and a proper coach.

* * *

"You know, I don't think you need my help with this."

Sakura stared at the pair who had come to find her in her classroom the next morning. Her brother and Kageyama had wanted to journey over to the third-year classrooms in hopes of finding the Ace of Karasuno. Perhaps they could find out _why_ this Asahi guy hadn't come back yet. Could it be because of an injury? Some other problem? Either way, Shōyō was extremely anxious to find him. After all, this was the guy that he wanted to be like!

Shōyō whined, "But you've been over there before!"

"Doesn't mean I know where your precious Ace is." Sakura hummed in uninterest as she stared out the window from her desk. She has been to the third-year classrooms a few times. Most of the time it was to find Shimada to talk with her about the club. Of course, deep down, she knew it was because Shimada was really her good friend and wanted to actually hang around her, but Sakura wouldn't say that out loud. Emotions are not her strong suit, so she wouldn't admit that she just wanted to be around someone she considered a friend.

There was then a grunt from the taller boy beside Shōyō, the to boys surrounding her desk, as he glowered down at Sakura. Kageyama didn't necessarily want her to come with, but Shōyō insisted that she could be of some help. Though whatever got this over with quicker was fine with him. Even if he had to go along with the stony-faced Sakura. "Are you going to help or not?"

Sakura paused as she heard him speak. The girl wasn't sure if she had heard Kageyama say the word _'help'_ before. Even if they've known each other for a short while, Sakura was positive that he _never_ asks for help. He is far too arrogant for that. She smirked and teasingly looked up at the gloomy boy, "Oh, is the king actually asking for help, how strange."

"Hinata-kun is the one who's desperate to talk with the Ace and he won't shut up about it." He grunted in reply as his eyes narrowed even further. His blueberry eyes almost started to take on the shape of slits, like the eyes of a snake. At least, in Sakura's perspective, it looked like it. "Are you going to _not_ help your twin?"

Sakura's jaw clenched at the question. And there, he caught it. He caught her in a bit of a tough position. Kageyama observed as she seemed to have an internal debate about this. If she said no, it meant she wasn't willing to help her brother. And she could rarely say no to him, Kageyama was slowly realizing. She really only said no when it was for something she deemed unimportant. However, meeting this ace is quite important to Shōyō. So Kageyama was sure that she'd have a hard time saying no to him now.

Shōyō jumped in place with his infamous puppy-dog eyes, "Please, Imouto!"

She clicked her tongue at the large eyes boing back at her. Her tough resolve slowly broke down at the pout from her brother, she really can't say no to him when he looks like this. Sakura crossed her arms over her chest, "Whatever, I'll help." Her brother yelped in happiness as he seemed to vibrate in place. Sakura sighed heavily and got up from her desk, "come on, I wanna get back in time for class."

She left her classroom with the two boys quickly trailing after her. For being such a short girl, she certainly could walk fast, so they didn't want ot lose sight of her through the school. Sakura led the boys through the corridors and passed plenty of different classrooms. While they walked, there were a few older students who called out to Sakura. Though in response to them greeting her, Sakura just waved slightly before trying to hide and walk even faster.

Shōyō was a bit confused. Sakura had other friends? She hadn't said anything about friends besides the guys from the volleyball team. Though he does remember her mentioning a Shimada, and some other people, so they must be the people trying to talk with her. It certainly wasn't a bad thing, by a long shot. He smiled widely. This meant that Sakura was putting herself out there, at least a bit more than she did during junior high. He didn't know why Sakura was always so closed off, especially in their third year. However, he's glad to know that she wasn't like that now. Joining the photography club has definitely done her some good! He is so happy for his imouto!

The trio then started to approach the first third-year classroom that they came across. Sakura moved out of the way to push her brother towards it. "Here, first classroom. Go find the ace."

Though instead of heading towards it, and easily staying in place since Sakura was as strong as a lemming, Shōyō turned to the tall blueberry next to him. "You go first," Shōyō said to him.

The dark-haired boy shook his head, "You're the one who wanted to see the ace, remember?"

"B-but I'm too scared to go near a third-year classroom."

As they were talking the door had opened up and a tall boy with long hair walked out of the classroom. The two first-year boys bikered a little bit more while Sakura stared at them with irritation burning in her eyes. She was debating whether or not just leaving to two here, since she didn't feel like she needed to be there. There was no way that she wanted to be late to class today. Her perfect attendance was not going to be ruined because of her brother's volleyball obsession.

Then their setter senpai came out of the same classroom, chasing after the long-haired teen. "Wait up, Asahi!"

"'Asahi'?" The three first-years asked.

Azumane Asahi, the tall ace of Karasuno, turned to the group with a tilt of his head. "Yes?"

Shōyō jumped at the intimidating figure in front of him and hoped over to hide behind Kageyama and his sister. Suga looked at the first-year trio inquisitively, "Wh-what? What are you guys doing?"

"Uh, well..." Shōyō stuttered.

Sakura stared up at Asahi with a raised eyebrow. _Yeah, he's definitely an ace,_ she thought to herself. He appeared to be intimidating, and he was tall, maybe taller than the blonde beanpole. Though she did think that he looked... older than he actually is. The beard definitely gave him the appearance of a guy who was held back a few years. At least, she hoped he hadn't been held back a few years. 

"I'll introduce you." Suga commented and gestured to them, "This is Hinata and Kageyama, who just joined the club."

Asahi smiled, "Oh, the first-years."

"Afternoon!" They bowed to him, though Sakura just bowed her head a bit. She was too lazy to act formally at the moment.

"Afternoon," The new third-year greeted and turned to Suga, "They're all on the team?"

"I'm not," Sakura cut in and shook her head before gesturing to her twin, "I'm just this idiot's sister."

Asahi smiled sheepishly. Honestly, he thought that she was a boy at first glance. However, he really should have caught on to the fact that she is, well, a girl. She is wearing a female uniform after all. "Ah, I see. So how many did you get this year?"

"Four." Suga answered, "Not the numbers we wanted, but they're all promising. Including Hinata-kun, he's hoping to be the ace."

"I see." Asahi smiled before placing a hand on the short boy's shoulder. Shōyō was broken out of thoughts about the ace, "Give it your best."

Shōyō tilted his head, "Aren't you going to give it your best with us? I want to become the ace, so I want to see the real ace in action!"

There was an apprehensive expression on his face. Sakura could already tell that this was a hard decision for him to make. She has no idea what could have caused this tough-looking teen to become so uneasy about coming back to the team. From what she observed, all of the upperclassmen on the team felt uneasy about Asahi and Nishinoya. She knew that they two must have fought or something to cause whatever tension there is between them and the team. In order to have a complete and efficient team, she knew that they were going to need them _all_ together. The chemistry that she had seen between the team as it is already was pretty strong, though she figured that it would be even more powerful with their libero and ace around.

"Azumane, the teacher's waiting for you!" A student called out to them, breaking their conversation up.

Asahi smiled apologetically, "Sorry, but I'm no ace." Then he walked off, leaving behind a group of disappointed teens. The most depressed at Asahi's departure is obviously Suga. He had been hoping to try and convince his friend to come back, entice him with the fact that Nishinoya was already back practicing with them. Try to get him to come back with the fact that even Endo seemed to be upset at their absence. However, nothing was getting through his thick head. Even if Asahi had faltered at the fact that _Endo_ had shown any sort of indication that he was even slightly depressed, he still walked away from this.

"Excuse me," Kageyama spoke to Suga as Asahi disappeared down the hall, "but did he get injured?"

His senpai shook his head with a sigh, "No, it's nothing like that. The problem is... he may hate volleyball now."

"What?" Shōyō gasped as if it were a sin to not like volleyball, which he probably believed. "But he's so big and they call him the ace! Why would he?"

Sakura clicked her tongue, "Just because he's built for volleyball doesn't mean he has to play or like it."

The grey-haired setter nodded his head in thanks towards the girl. He is glad that she was there to be somewhat reasonable. Suga definitely knew that Sakura always had to explain things to her brother like this. He swallowed, "Asahi... was Karasuno's biggest and most powerful player. He could score in the trickiest, most problematic scenarios." He walked over to an open window and leaned out of it. The memory of what had happened the previous school year getting to him just a little bit. "That's why we trusted him and called him the ace. But..."

"Was he crushed?" Kageyama asked, already having a feeling what had happened.

"In this one game, his spikes were completely blocked." Suga swallowed as he remembered their game against the iron wall. No matter what they had done or tried to do, they were shut out no matter what. Their ace could not break through their wall, and their libero couldn't save as many balls as he could. "Asahi is the type who has a strong sense of responsibility."

The trio of first-years eventually turned to start walking off after finishing their conversation with their senpai. They all now had a better understanding of what was happening with their missing ace. How he had lost enough confidence to not want to come back to the team. Even enough to lose interest in volleyball to the point where he might not even like it.

The boys had to head to the gym for practice as usual. Though before she followed after them, Sakura huffed through her nose. Suga turned to find that she hadn't left just yet and allowed the troublesome duo to head off on their own. "If you say that he's the responsible type, then I'm pretty sure he'll come back." She said to him. Her expression wasn't void like it usually is. Instead, she looked compassionate, at least, as compassionate as a tsundere like her could get. Her eyes were soft and the corner of her lips was turned up slightly in a small smile. It took Suga by surprise since he had never seen her smile like this. At most, he had seen her slick, sadistic smirks. At the sight of her soft expression, Suga had blushed a tiny bit. Only a little though. Not a lot. What could he say, she looks absolutely adorable when she wasn't scowling so much. Sakura shrugged her shoulders, "That and I think Shō-nii will keep pestering him until he comes back. Either way, the team will have their ace, eventually."

Suga cleared his throat before chuckling. Yeah, she was right about that. Asahi wouldn't be gone for long, he thought. Also, her brother definitely wouldn't let this go so easily. "I hope you're right, Hinata-chan."

With one final nod and flash of her cute little smile, Sakura spun around and lazily waving over her shoulder. "Later," her light footsteps traveled further away from the third-year who still had a small hue of rose on his cheeks. All this volleyball drama was a bit more tiring than she would have thought. Honestly, Sakura was starting to get a headache with some of it. She exited the building and looked around to see where dumb and dumber went, only to find that they were racing off towards the gym. She rolled her eyes, there was no way that she was going to run after them. So she set off on her lazy trot towards the gym.

This time while walking off to find her moronic brother, her mind wasn't racing. At least not as usual. While she was still a bit... worried(she supposed) about the gallery next week, it wasn't as prominent in her mind. Sure it was coming up soon, and she is a bit jittery about it, but it was on the back burner. She had at least an idea of what she wanted to do now. After thinking back to _why_ she liked photography, her insecurity with it, and her apprehension to share her passion, she had finally come to terms with what to do. She had a clearer idea of what she wanted to represent in her photo. All she needed was to find a subject for it. There was no way that she would pace herself as the subject, even if she was thinking of her own new beginnings. She hates taking pictures of herself, she always thought that she looked weird in photos.

On her way to the gym, Sakura ended up running into the two other first-years on the team. She pursed her lips, it seems like they were starting to run into each other like this quite often. On one hand, Sakura was more than okay with running into Yamaguchi since he is an extremely likable person. However, Sakura has made it quite clear that she did not like Tsukishima.

"Ah, Yamaguchi," she greeted the olive-haired boy politely. Though she didn't even bat an eye at Tsukishima as she threw a greeting at him over her shoulder, "beanpole."

Tsukishima glared down at her and tsked while putting on his headphones. He was obviously alright with ignoring her, though that isn't surprising. Sakura also is more than okay with not having to hear his annoying jabs at her. Yamaguchi smiled warmly, "Oh, hey, Hinata-chan. Are you headed to the gym?"

She nodded her head while following them, "Yeah, I don't have club today."

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah, I guess Shimada-senpai is giving us the opportunity to plan for the gallery next week."

"And here I thought you were slacking off." So it seems like the blonde giant is paying attention to their conversation. 

She stared up at him with her half-lidded eyes, "I guess you thought wrong." She clicked her tongue, "First time for everything, huh?"

"Tch."

Sakura disregarded him as he ignored her once again. Ah, how she loved annoying him just as he does to her. She then turned to the other boy they were walking with, "So how have you been Yamaguchi?"

"A-ah, I've been alright." He jumped slightly at the sharp attention. Yamaguchi definitely didn't want to see Tsukishima and Sakura have a bit of a spat between each other again. He liked to think that he was slowly becoming friends with Sakura, especially with how she's been kind to him. So he didn't want that to be ruined because of the relationship between the two. He smiled sheepishly, "Though I did have a bit of trouble with our math assignment today, but Tsuki helped me out. He's really good at math!"

He always has something nice to say about Tsukishima, she observed. No matter what, he tried to wedge in some sort of compliment about the blonde. Sakura would have found it quite sweet if Tsukishima wasn't such an asshole. "Never would have thought."

Yamaguchi chuckled slightly and disregarded the pointed glare Tsukishima was burning into his side. He calmed down enough and scratched the back of his neck, "So when is your gallery?"

"Next week," she answered swiftly.

"Oh, it'll be really cool to see your work, I haven't seen any of your photos yet." While Sakura had been around them these past few weeks, she hadn't shown anyone her photos. Of course, Yamaguchi was certain that she has shown her twin her work, but he hadn't seen any. The gallery gave him the perfect opportunity to see what she could do. He was actually really curious to see what photos she had taken of him, if any.

Sakura puckered her lips and looked away from him, "Well... I didn't necessarily think anyone on the team would want to see it."

"Why?" Tsukishima snapped. His tone sounded sharp and uninterested, but truly, he was just a little, _a little_ bit curious as to why. She wasn't exactly an open book, from his perspective, and he couldn't read her as easily as some people. He could tell that she was hiding quite a bit, just like himself. Tsukishima had baggage, stuff that he hid from everyone in hopes to avoid the same betrayal that he was subjected to as a kid. Sakura could be doing the same, he thought. Someone doesn't become this emotionless and unbothered with life for no reason. Something happened to her, and even if he would want to admit it, he was curious as to what it was. He has an idea of what it was related to, but he wasn't certain.

"Let me rephrase that, I don't _want_ you to see it." She stated hotly, breaking the tall boy out of his thoughts. He glanced down to see the harsh stare that she pointed at him, "Especially _you_."

The sly smirk that graced his lips caused Sakura to falter slightly. He moved to stand in front of her, effectively stopping the trio from continuing on. Yamaguchi watched anxiously from the sidelines while Sakura glared at Tsukishima. He couldn't help the snide snicker that escaped his lips. "Scared that we'll actually see how bad your photos are."

Sakura clenched her jaw at the jab. Though she couldn't really deny that he was completely wrong. Even if her confidence had been built up quite a bit since joining her club, it wasn't high enough to let her brother's team see her work. Especially not the beanpole. He would tear her down within a second, and she really didn't want to hear what he had to say. She could tell that he was figuring it out what was going through her mind from that smirk on his punchable face. "I don't care what you think of my work." She snapped harshly, showing that his slightly true statement got to her. "I just don't want to deal with you bothering me while I'm there." With that said, she brushed past him and leaving behind the infuriating boy.

"If you say so," He said smugly. Oh yeah, he could see through her now.

* * *

Now at practice, everyone settled into their normal routine. Sakura sat down against the wall to watch them while they lined up to practice their receives. Next up is Nishinoya, who jumped once the ball was spiked at him, "Rolling Thunder!!"

It was silent for a moment as they took in his exuberant display of skill. Though eventually, a few of the other boys started to laugh at his shout. Suga just stared at him with a raised eyebrow, "Uh, yeah, nice receive."

"That's just a rolling receive!" Tanaka cackled loudly at his fellow second-year's 

Kageyama stared at him with wide eyes, "Why did you shout like that?"

"What was that?" Tsukishima asked through his snickers while Yamaguchi did his best to hide his laughter. Though his shoulders continued to shake despite his efforts. Even Sakura was laughing at the poor boy, though she did a better job of hiding her laughter by stuffing her face into her knees.

"Kageyama! Tsukishima! Yamaguchi!" Nishinoya raged at the laughing first-years, "I'm gonna lecture the whole lot of you! Crouch! No, sit! Get over here, so I can look down at you!"

"Teach it to me!" Shōyō called out, rushing up to the libero with stars in his eyes. "Please teach me the rolling Thunder!"

Endo was probably the loudest as he laughed at his friend and patted him on the back. "Good job, Nishi! As excitable as always!"

As the boys continued to laugh at their libero, their club advisor came running into the gym. "Well done, guys! Can I have your attention, everyone?" The boys all gathered up in front of their teacher, "You're all doing the Golden Week training camp this year too, right?"

Daichi nodded his head, "Yes, we need more practice."

Takeda pushed up his glasses like a badass, "Anyway, for the final day of Golden Week... I've booked you a practice game!" The boys cheered at the news. A practice match! How awesome!

"Wow!" Tanaka exclaimed, "You're really pulling your weight, Take!"

"Who are we playing against?" Suga asked excitedly.

Takeda then explained, "A veteran school in Tokyo, Nekoma High. I believe the nickname they go by is... 'The Cats'."

Shōyō tilted his head in question, "Cats?"

Tanaka placed his hands on his hips, "We heard about them a lot. Our old coach and theirs were rivals, and we'd travel to play against each other all the time." Ah yes, the famed Nokoma volleyball team. Things are definitely going to get interesting soon.

Suga nodded his head, "I remember! 'The Major Matchup! The Cats VS Crows Dumpster Showdown!'"

"Was that seriously a major matchup?" Tsukishima asked snarkily at the ridiculous name.

Their captain raised an eyebrow to Takeda, "But we haven't had any reason to play them for a while, so why now?"

"Right, I'll explain the details later." Their advisor started, "I happen to learn about our worthy adversary Nekoma, so I just had to stage a 'fateful rematch'. I'm positive he'll make a move... if we play Nekoma High." At the corner store down the hill, Ukai sneezed.

Daichi "Okay! Let's put some enthusiasm into this practice game so it doesn't go to waste!"

The entire team nodded, "Yessir!"

"Tokyo, huh?" Tanaka thought out loud with a sharp-toothed smirk, "Those damned city boys. I'm gonna pulverize their pretty little faces."

Tsukishima laughed, "Did you say 'city boys'?" The way that Tanaka had said 'city boys' sounded more like 'shitty boys', he should probably work on his pronunciations. 

"Shut up!" Tanaka bristled at the younger boy, "Tuskishima, you bastard!" Though Tsukishima was more than happy to see how he caused his upperclassman some plight.

Though as the rest of the team was quite excited with the news, there was one person who was a bit... Nishinoya walked up to the captain, "Daichi? I'm sorry, I can't attend the practice game."

Daichi turned to him in confusion, "Nishinoya?"

The boy sighed heavily, "Shōyō's a great guy and the other first-years are a bunch of ruffians, but they're all fun. I think this team is gonna shape up into something good."

Endo came up to the pair, having heard their conversation and decided to come over to see what it was about. However, now that he heard it, he wasn't that glad to know about Nishinoya not wanting to stick around. He had high hopes of their libero staying in the club. Though now it seemed like he had hoped for nothing. The blonde tried to smile, "Come on, Nishi, with your help it will."

"I want to practice here too." The libero pursed his lips, "But if I play a game and our team won, that would be like proving that we can win without Asahi. I'd hate that." He then turned to stare meaningfully up at the third-year spiker, "You understand, right Endo?"

Endo stared at the libero with no smile on his face. It had dissolved so easily, proving that he was just putting on a mask. He tried to keep any negative expression off of his face, but he slowly started to appear disheartened. He sighed heavily, "...Yeah..." As much as he wanted to argue with Nishinoya, his argument was tugging on his heart. He also didn't want to play a game without Asahi. He's the strongest one on their team, which is why he is the ace. Even when they had played against Aoba Johsai, it was upsetting to know that they won without him and Nishinoya. It was by the skin of their teeth, but it was still a win. A win without their entire team. As much as he liked having a win over Oikawa, it was slightly pushed to the side with the fact that it wasn't with his best friend.

"We've been teammates all this time. I-I'm sorry for being so selfish," Nishinoya stuttered out.

Even if Nishinoya felt like he was doing a disservice to the team, Daichi knew where he was coming from. He nodded his head, "Understood, but I want you to come to the training camp with us."

Nishinoya sputtered at the demand, "What? But..."

Before he could question it, the smallest first-year came running over to them with a volleyball in hand. His eyes were large and sparkling, "Noya, one more time! Do the Rolling Thunder one more time!"

"See?" Daichi smiled while crossing his arms.

Endo smirked, now seeing how they could use Shōyō as leverage to get Nishinoya to stay. Hopefully, for a while. He placed his hands on the libero's shoulders and pushed him closer to their ball of sunshine. "Don't disappoint your kohai, Nishinoya!"

* * *

The practice came to an end and the boys were starting to clean up the gym after a satisfyingly tiring practice. Not only that, but the boys were still buzzing in excitement over the training camp and the showdown against Nekoma. Traveling to Tokyo will definitely be extremely fun!

Sakura was a bit interested to hear about this trip. She has no idea what these training camps would be like, since Shōyō had never been to one before. So she couldn't wait to hear about it from him when it was over. Especially that practice game against "The Cats". She could only imagine what kind of team that was. If they earned that nickname, then they must have the reflexes of cats. That was the only prediction that she could really make about them since she had no idea what kind of a team Nekoma is. Maybe she should look into it.

The troublesome duo was taking a few quick sips from their water bottles now that they had finished their clean up duty. Shōyō looked over to Kageyama, "Do you think that things with Sugawara and Nishinoya would work out if Asahi came back to the club?"

Kageyama shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno."

From her seat against the wall by her twin, Sakura crossed her arms over her chest, "Maybe." She couldn't be sure of anything with what was happening between their senpais. She's only known these boys for a short time, so she has no idea what to expect of them. Whatever relationships they have with each other isn't something that she's privy too, at least not yet. 

"He said that Asahi is the type who has a strong sense of responsibility," Shōyō recalled their talk with the older setter, "but I think Sugawara is the same way, don't you?"

"Both of them are very responsible." Kageyama commented, "Although they can't possibly win by themselves."

"A-are you allowed to say that?" Shōyō gasped dramatically at the seeming hypocrisy that he just witnessed, "I remember that famous line of yours like it was yesterday!" He then flattened down his spikey hair and tried to intimidate the king's voice. "' _I'd rather do every receive, spike, and toss by myself_.'"

Kageyama raged at the pretty good impression of himself and grabbed Shōyō by his shirt. He vigorously shook him for his mockery, "Shut up!"

"' _All by myself_ '." Though since Shōyō disregarded him and continued with his impression, Kageyama threw Shōyō through the air. However, Shōyō just landed on his feet as if the king hadn't just tossed him like a volleyball. "And everyone on our side of the net is supposed to be an ally. I hate it that we're so awkward."

Sakura raised an amused eyebrow as she stood up from her seat on the floor, "That comes with being a teenager, Shō."

The orange-haired boy huffed, "That's not what I meant."

"I know." Sakura chuckled, "Golden Week sounds like it'll be fun for you guys though."

Her brother jumped into her personal space. She leaned back at his invasion and pushed him away as he pouted, "Are you not going?"

"Why would I?" Sakura asked with a tilted head, "I'm not a part of the team."

Shōyō whined childishly, "But you should still come!" He wanted her to be there with him while experiencing his first training camp. They've done everything together, so why would this be any different?

Though it was a bit hypocritical. He wanted Sakura to be her own person... yet still wanted to have her around him most of the time. It was strange. It seemed like even though he wanted Sakura to find her own identity, he was still unwilling to distance himself from her either. Whether it was intentional or not, it most likely will not help Sakura to find her own niche away from her brother if even _he_ is not letting her go off on her own. The least he could do is not try to get her to come with him at every volleyball related thing he did. While she would be doing photography and such, it still revolved around Shōyō. Everything she does is related to Shōyō, she was in need of doing something that is for _her_. Hopefully, both of them realized this sooner or later.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "For what purpose?"

Shōyō pouted harder, as she had yet to see the obvious, "To take pictures of us and stuff."

She stared at him with her usual blank expression, not understanding what he meant. "I do that just about every day." 

"But at the camp, you can take even more pictures of us getting hurt!" Oh, he knew his sister so well.

Sakura paused for a moment before tapping her chin, "Hm, good point." It was a tempting offer. While she usually took photos of the entire team(when she felt like it since it can be a bit boring just taking pictures of the boys doing the same thing all the time) she didn't get much of the opportunity to get photos of them hurting themselves. And Sakura needed to have her fill of sadistic photos. The ones of Shōyō were all fine and good, but getting those of others was fun. The others on the team didn't have many moments where they messed up as spectacular as her brother, warranting a photo. "I guess I'll think about it."

Yamaguchi and Tsukishima then walked up to the trio of first-years, having a quick sip from their water bottles. The tall blonde pushed up his glasses as he stared down at the other first-years with a malicious expression. He smirked, "You take pictures of us getting hurt?" He may or may not also be quite the sadistic person, so he may want to see them.

"Yes, especially Shō," she stated nonchalantly like it was an everyday thing, which it is. She then started to flip through the photos on her camera. Sakura had yet to transfer them onto her laptop, so there were a few older photos on it. Including one that caused her to smirk widely. The sadistic gleam to her eye didn't go unnoticed by those around her. They even shivered at how she hummed in amusement. She turned the camera to show them what she was looking at, "Though I do have _this_ one. It's probably my favorite."

Kageyama sputtered at the photo that he was presented with, "What!" His face was becoming a tad bit red. Whether that was because of anger or embarrassment, nobody could really pinpoint it. It was probably a combination of the two.

Of course, it was the photo of Kageyama from their practice match against Seijoh. It was a perfectly timed photo of Shōyō's botched serve hitting him in the back of the head. Sakura chuckled with an amused smirk, "Can I just say, I have pretty good timing."

* * *

"I appreciate the thought," Asahi said while scratching the back of his neck. In front of him stood the same three first-years who had seen him the other day. Apparently, they had come to see him yet again to try and get him to go back to the team. He had to admit, they sure were persistent. "But why are you so keen on me even though we've never practiced together?"

Just like the previous day, Shōyō had dragged Sakura along with him and Kageyama to go talk with the third-year. She tried to argue that they didn't need her since they knew how to get to the third-year classes. However, she couldn't say no to the way Shōyō just about begged her to go once again. Kageyama found it quite amusing how Sakura could bend to Shōyō's will at times. Don't get him wrong, he's seen Sakura deny Shōyō of certain things from time to time. However, when it has something to do with his ultimate passion, volleyball, she was wrapped around her twin's finger. So here she was, stood beside the duo as they looked up at Asahi. Though she was a bit bored and was just staring at the floor tiredly. It seemed like her late-night study sessions and early mornings were starting to catch up to her.

Shōyō jumped, "Oh! Because if you don't come back, my upperclassmen won't cheer up!"

Kageyama cringed before hitting the smaller boy in his side, "You're too loud."

Then he was hit in his side himself, just as painfully as Shōyō had been(if not more). He glowered at the short girl while rubbing his now bruised side. Sakura glared right back at him cooly, "Refrain from hitting my brother."

"You guys are a hoot." Asahi laughed lightly. He found that these first-years were quite amusing. He then sighed, "But I'm sorry. I've lost my ability to visualize what it's like to break through those high clockers right in my way. I'm positive I'll be shut out. It freaks me out and fills my head with thoughts of self-destruction."

Sakura supposed that she could relate to Asahi on some level. He seemed just as doubtful in his volleyball skills as Sakura could be with her photography. Sure, she's gotten better at showing certain people her work and having the courage to do so. However, that was really only because she's become numb to what people might say. She could never take a compliment seriously unless she could decipher if whoever was saying it was actually sincere. Shōyō was always sincere to her, Shimada didn't seem to have a mean bone in her body, and those on the volleyball team who had seen her photos are nice to her, so none of them would speak badly of her work. Could she take constructive criticism? Yes. Though could she hold herself against insults to her work? A little bit. At least, better now than in junior high. 

Doubting herself was always a huge flaw of hers. It hindered her ability to create her own identity beyond just being Shōyō's twin. So yes, she understood Asahi's perspective. However, unlike her, he had people depending on him, basically begging for his help and guidance. Sakura's photography isn't a team effort, but volleyball is. So she supposed there was a bit more pressure added to his dilemma when compared to hers.

"Th-this may sound cocky coming from pipsqueak first-years, but I have to say it," Shōyō stuttered out, breaking Sakura from her thoughts.

"Not at all," Asahi smiled, "What is it?"

Shōyō took a deep breath, "I know what you mean. I'm short and I don't have technical skill so I kept getting stopped by blockers. But now I can get past any high blocker thanks to his tosses! The blockers all fade away and the view of the other side of the net opens up to me! And when the ball hits my hand at the highest point, the weight of it kind of sloshes into my hand." He held out his hand as if it was still stinging from a spike. "I love that! I'm jealous of you. Right now, I don't have the height or the power to break through the blockers, but you do. I know you've been blocked a lot until now, but you've scored way more times than you were blocked, right? That's why they all call you the ace!"

Asahi stared at the small boy in wonder for a moment. His words obviously getting to him in some way. Though before they could continue, they were interrupted by the shrill sound of the school bell. Now that all had to head to their classes for the day. Sakura, Kageyama, and Shōyō were definitely going to have to leave now if they wanted to make it to their first-year classes on time. So Sakura already turned to leave, not willing to let these boys be the reason she's late to class.

"Let's go," She commented and grabbed her brother's arm as he tried to stay rooted to his spot.

Kageyama tried to help out, "It's time to head back. Dummy, you'll be late." The trio then started to walk off, but the black-haired teen paused and addressed Asahi, "Excuse me... It's only natural that you can't win by yourself. That's why there are six people on the court. I only learned that for myself recently so I can't talk big about it. Excuse me."

Asahi watched as the three first-years headed off to their classes for the day. What they had said had struck a chord with him, especially Shōyō. He knew that feeling, he knew what it was like. However, now, it felt like it was so far away from him. He had been shut out far too much to clearly feel what it was like. So while the first-years walked off, the twins making fun of Kageyama for his words about teamwork, Asahi's mind ran rampant with his own internal debate.

"Man those guy sure talk a lot."

Asahi jumped at the sudden voice behind him and turned to find a fellow third-year behind him. It was his best friend, and drama queen, who stared at him with his signature raised eyebrow and smirk. "J-Joji."

"Asahi..." Endo trailed off while staring at the teen in front of him. The two hadn't had a full conversation with each other for a while. The tension was thick between them as they took in each other's presence. The blonde clicked his tongue and walked closer to his friend, "I hope that the small fry and gloomy king's speeches got through your thick head." He hit Asahi over the head which caused the bearded teen to whine out in pain.

"H-hey-!"

"We miss you, okay? The team's not the same without you." He then coughed realizing what he said was kind of sappy and quickly added, "Or Noya, yeah the both of you." G _ood save_ , he thought to himself sarcastically.

Awkwardness consumed them once again as Asahi tried to find his voice. For such a big guy, he really had the personality of a timid teddy bear. "Suga said that Noya already came back."

"He did, somewhat," Endo stated and glared at Asahi, "Which means we're just waiting on your lazy ass. We need our ace!"

Asahi winced at Endo's sudden shout and shrunk in his spot. This was why he had been trying to stay away from Endo, no matter how much it hurt him. He didn't want to disappoint the club, which included Endo. Especially Endo. He bit his lip, "You know I don't feel like the ace, not anymore."

"And here I thought _I_ was the dramatic one," Endo scoffed.

Asahi was the one to raise an eyebrow this time. "You _are_ the dramatic one, Joji."

"Oh, I know." Endo easily admitted and didn't even try to argue with him. The two shared a laugh with each other as they allowed themselves to have a moment of contentment. They hadn't talked like this in a while. Ever since Asahi had left the club, he had been actively avoiding Endo. It hurt the blonde, to have his best friend avoiding him for some silly reason. However, Endo let it happen. He knew that Asahi needed to be alone for a while. Though a month was really far too long for his liking. He sighed heavily, "Look we've known each other for a long time... and I know that you love volleyball, even now." Asahi looked away from Endo's burning gaze, already knowing that his friend could see right through him. Even if he tried to deny it, the two of them know just about everything about each other. They also have the innate ability to know what each other are thinking without saying anything. There was no need to hide secrets from each other, as they could easily tell if one of them was trying to hide something. Endo placed a hand on Asahi's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. "So just save us all the trouble and come back to the club. We have a hard enough time looking after our newest members, we need some help, okay?"

Asahi chuckled with a small, timid smile on his lips, "Yeah. I'll think about it."

"I'm serious, I really think we can go far with the new first-years." Endo commented before brightening, "Plus, we've got paparazzi-chan now, she can really take great pictures. Though it helps when the subject, _me_ , is quite handsome." Asahi chuckled at Endo's arrogant statement. He did kind of miss Endo's selfish statements, even if sometimes they could get annoying. He missed Endo. And the rest of the team, of course.

They parted ways after that to their classes. Asahi's mind was racing with a heated debate about going back to the club. Meanwhile, Endo was praying to Kami-sama that his friend would actually get off his ass and come to their practices. Because if he didn't, Endo really wasn't sure if he'd stick around the club without his best friend. Suppose that's just how attached he is to Asahi. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay, okay. We've finally got a few more details about Endo's life, I guess. He's a snobby, rich boy! Though there is still far, far more about him that we've yet to see. There's something between him and Oikawa, him and Asahi, and also a trace of bitterness for his father, hmm...
> 
> Sakura, awww! She's opening up a bit to Shimada. I found that cute, or at least, I tried to make it cute. Also, Tsukishima... really sounding like another glasses-wearing boy Sakura had the displeasure of knowing... Oops? Yeah, there's going to be a lot of drama coming up soon. Although, honestly, I think I've been harping on Sakura's struggle with her confidence a bit too much. Is it too much? I don't know... Well, we'll find out if it will continue on once she goes through the gallery.
> 
> I'm thinking that for this first season, at least so far, I'll be focusing on Sakura's conflict a bit. Obviously, Endo's conflict won't be ignored at all, and it'll even be developed a bit. However, I wanna focus on Sakura's character development for a little bit before incorporating Endo's entire back story, if that makes scense. Though I'll have bits and pieces seep through here and there, like these next few chapters. I do want to write my OCs as extremely complex characters, at least more complex than the characters that I've written before. So I'm trying to make them relatable and more realistic than just 2d static characters. After all, Haikyuu has some really complex, multi-layered characters.
> 
> Also, I am totally writing a slow, slow burn relationship between my OCs and their pairing. And no, I won't spoil who I paired Endo or Sakura with. I wanna keep it a mystery. Though you can make some guesses. I feel like it can be a bit obvious who it is that they're paired with. Though I wanna keep it a surprise, so who knows if you'll be able to tell who they are after these next few chapters.
> 
> Okay, okay, okay! I wrote this all out on Thursday and well.. Wandavision came out with a new episode today and I SWAR TO GOD MY MIND HAS BEEN BLOWN. No spoilers, obviously. I would never wanna do that. But like, this has probably given me some new motivation to write my marvel stories and such. It's just so god damn good!
> 
> Well, let me know what you think about this chapter! Until the next update, my friends! Bye~

**Author's Note:**

> Right! So now we have met Sakura who is like the opposite of Shōyō. I tried to make that pretty clear, cause we all know that Shōyō is basically the biggest optimist ever, so I tried to make her a huge pessimist. Also, there's the fact that she's not passionate about volleyball or anything really, unlike her brother. And she may or may not like Kageyama as well. Oops. I have a feeling I'm probably going to enjoy writing her as a character.
> 
> And a fourth guy at the game with Daichi, Tanaka, and Suga. Hmmm, I wonder who that is. Hehe. Guess you'll have to find out later.
> 
> So my next writing assignment is to work on Secrets of the Forest for the second chapter. After that will be Ups and Downs. If you know about my other stories, then you know what those are, I guess. Ups and Downs is the sequel to my first Harry Potter fanfiction and Secrets of the Forest is my Stranger Things fanfiction. So if you want, you can check those out.
> 
> I hope that this chapter was pretty good. Let me know what you think about it!


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